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| I built my first lasagna garden about 3 weeks ago. It is 15' x 4'
I used a bale and a half of straw for the browns and used mostly horse manure for the green. I did put in some fresh lawn clippings, ~ 10 lbs of Starbucks coffee grounds, some random wilting vegetables from the fridge, and some ivy or something that I saw someone throwing away (ran that over with the mower first). I am worried that it is not going to compost because it does not seem to be heating up. I started to worry because it wasn't shrinking, so I stuck my hand in the middle (mmmmmm horse poop) and it wasn't even warm. Still moist though. I think that maybe the horse manure was composted too much already. I got it for free from a guys ranch. It was already piled ~ 3 ft high and i was digging form the bottom of the pile. Some still had its original shape but some looked more like peat moss. It was also very dry. The manure makes up 3 layers it looks like this from bottom to top paper
Everything was sprayed down before adding new layers. The straw layers were about 4" thick with the straw pretty loose, manure layers about 2" thick, and clippings/ivy etc about 1" thick. Is it possible that the manure doesn't have enough nitrogen to heat up? Will everything still break down by March for a vegetable garden? Should I add blood meal or maybe a different high nitrogen organic fertilizer? Sorry if I'm being paranoid, this is my first try at gardening, and composting. Thanks :) Mike |
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| Nice raised bed! I would not add blood meal or fertilizer at this point. In Zone 9 Cali you might be still having warm windy days. I would give your new bed a daily dousing with the garden hose. It might be drying out. Also when it begins to work it will shrink as much as 50%. I would add more layers in the next few weeks, and mound it up. Next layer greens, which could be used coffee grounds from your nearest Starbucks (free). I get used grounds from four sources on a regular basis. I would say that you could put at least 10 gals of UCG's on your next layer. Guaranteed to make things happpen. |
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- Posted by mustard_seeds 4 -Onalaska Wisconsi (My Page) on Sun, Nov 18, 12 at 19:48
| sorry if I get two posts, but the last one disappeared! I think your work is awesome! In my experience with several lasagna beds, there is not much heat generated since it has such a large surface area. It will break down in the next few months as long as there is some moisture. Composted manure is preferred for your vegetables, so yours will definitely be good for March. I would not add bone meal. You will need to build up the layers as they shrink over the years, adding compost or layers similar to what you have already done. You are going to LOVE it. That bed looks really nice without being too deep - you will be able to tend it very well. I can imagine a narrow strip of carpet remnant along the edge by the concrete so weeds do not pop up in that strip and you can kneel on the carpet without your knees digging into the edge of the sidewalk if there is a bit of overlap. Are you planning to seed directly or transplant the vegetables? How much light will they be getting in this spot? If there is going to be much shade, we can give you tips on "cool season" vegetables that take more shade, or post in the veggie forum... so fun! |
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| You might add another layer of composted horse manure which will keep the straw moist. Also keep adding UCG as you can get them. Make sure you spray it often enough to keep it moist especially if there is not enough rain. With 4 months to go you can still keep digging in kitchen veggie scraps and they will decompose in time. They will add moisture, 'greens', and feed the organisms which will help. One lasagna bed I did seemed to be a complete failure and I finally gave up on it but by the next year the soil was wonderful. The problem was my dry climate and I didn't water it enough so it took fall rains, winter snow, spring rains, and time to help it decompose. |
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| Hi Michael, don't confuse lasagna beds with compost piles. They are two totally different things. You do not want your lasagna bed to be a compost pile and it will not because of the low profile. Be patient and it will shrink in time and just add more to top it off. Planting in it today will be fine if you want to. I prefer to wait a few weeks, but it's all good. |
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- Posted by MichaelWilliams none (My Page) on Mon, Nov 19, 12 at 0:24
| Thank you all. I have been lurking around GW trying to learn everything at once, but this is my first post. All of the forums have been greatly helpful. Can't imagine trying to learn all of this on my own :) I'm trying to turn the empty yard this house came with into something we can enjoy. I think it was too dry. I hadn't watered it since I built it. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to :) Glad to know it doesn't end up getting hot. That helps my nerves :) It rained over the last couple days and it did shrink a few inches, so I will keep watering it. Does an inch a week (adjusted for rainfall) sound right? I'll keep adding layers too. I'll get grounds form coffee shops daily, but I'm out of browns. I could use shredded computer paper (lots to get rid of) but I'm not sure about the ink in a veg garden. Maybe I'll volunteer to do some raking in the neighborhood. Mustard Seed, would the carpet start to stink? Have a bunch of that to get rid of too but worried about smell. Not sure about direct seed or transplanting vegetables. Read about winter sowing and that sounds great so whatever I can winter sow I will. The rest I'll direct sow if this decomposes enough or if not I'll start in little containers. The area defiantly gets plenty of sun. From about 10 or 11 to sunset in the summer it will get full sun. Actually kinda worried that it will get too hot. We regularly get days 100* and hotter in July August. The house is ~6' away from the garden and has stucco siding. Not sure if that will be too much for it. May be building a shade structure for afternoon sun. We'll see :) Thanks Again Mike |
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| Eeek! I hope it's 'something', not ivy... In my experience, there's few things harder to kill, and I'd keep a close eye out for very shiny, slightly stripy leaves coming through. That's what new English ivy growth looks like anyway. |
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| Generally to get a compost pile to generate heat you need volume and your raised, Lasagna, bed just does not have enough. |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Mon, Nov 19, 12 at 11:27
| "...and some ivy or something that I saw someone throwing away (ran that over with the mower first). " Excellent that you realized this as a resource to use, but keep an eye out for sprouts. Some things, like ivy or grass roots, can keep growing after such treatment (like roto-tilling also) - in the form of thousands of "baby" plants instead of a few big ones. Glad this stuff is pretty far under, and if anything does continue growing, it will be easy to pull in your setup there. In the future, you may want to employ a smothering or baking method (to ensure this stuff is definitely DEAD) before trying to use (or compost) material that has the potential to keep growing. Sounds like it is time to start considering an actual compost pile or bin. A compost pile does not need to get hot to do its' thing. |
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| Shredded paper will be a great addition to this bed. As currently layered it will be difficult to plant in that layer of straw...so I would say...a fairly think layer of greens (UCG's), then shredded paper and finish the top with compost. You should be mounding up higher than the sides and when you are ready to plant you can take a garden rake and level it out. (water each layer well as you add them) Hoops from PVC pipe with shade cloth attached will combat any summer over heating. |
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- Posted by MichaelWilliams none (My Page) on Mon, Nov 19, 12 at 13:12
| The unidentified green stuff :) is defiantly not English ivy. It's a plant that is climbing the brick wall around the subdivision where I live. I'll go grab some today and id it. Maybe post a pic here if I cant figure it out. How thick should I put the compost on top? I got really nice compost when I redid the lawn at ~$30 a yard. That would be ~5.4 inches over the entire bed. I also got 50 gal free compost from the dump. It smelled like cat pee and may have come with weeds (could be from rototilling, wish I would have trusted posts on GW and not rototilled.) Use full yard? 1/2? $30 a reasonable price? I didn't really intend it to be a raised bed. It is not super sturdy just foot long rebar in the bottom of those 2x4 pounded into ground and nailed w another 2x4 on top to hold it all together. It's all made from scraps I had around the house. The sides aren't even attached just held there by the dirt on inside. I just built that it keep the everything together over winter. I was gonna take it apart in spring... It has kept the dog out tho so maybe I will leave it. I don't see it lasting a very long time. Plus the wife will probably insist it look nicer if it is going to be permanent. Mike |
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- Posted by mustard_seeds 4 -Onalaska Wisconsi (My Page) on Mon, Nov 19, 12 at 13:29
| hey Mike! No, you do not need to keep it as a raised bed - eventually all the layers will shrink to ground level. But if you wanted it to be raised, you can just add more layers as you need to. The structure looked kinda permanent from the photograph LOL. For me, carpet on paths has never been a smelly problem since my garden area is on a slight slope and drains well. Has been a nice weed barrier. Guess it might be different if water pooled in the area or poorly draining soil. What makes up the area around your bed - is there grass under that straw at the perimeter? -Rachel |
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- Posted by mustard_seeds 4 -Onalaska Wisconsi (My Page) on Mon, Nov 19, 12 at 13:32
| I agree with poster above that you should start your own compost pile/bin/heap if you have the space for it, You are already good at getting materials. Shredded paper blows around less if you have it in some type of enclosure. On my first lasagna bed I used some municipal/dump compost - got really weedy and there was an odor initially. Now I never use municipal compost, just my own. Maybe I am a compost snob - LOL! |
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- Posted by MichaelWilliams none (My Page) on Mon, Nov 19, 12 at 14:01
| Under the straw is super hard dirt. Not really any drainage, & very level. The previous owners had shredded cedar mulch in the area but it was covered with dirt and weeds. I used roundup on the weeds over the summer. I thought about trying to wash the dirt off of the cedar and use it around the bed but it was decomposing already so I just mixed dirt and cedar together and put it under the bed. It is prob ~ 4" high and its under the paper layer. I plan to put a nicer looking mulch eventually but I'm low on $ (too many projects) :) I've been thinking about starting a compost heap (even bought 3' plastic fencing to go around it) but I don't really have anything to go into it. Lawn clippings stay on lawn, Trees are brand new so not many leaves, basicly just paper and vegetable scraps. Scrounging for free stuff is fine for something small but i don't have time to do it all the time. I'll probably try vermicomposting, but haven't gotten around to it yet ($ again) Mike |
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