How To Make A Lasagna Garden

In today’s blog post we will be diving into how to make a Lasagna gardening! It is fun, easy, and allows you to make new gardens at a much faster rate than the old double-digging method. The name "lasagna gardening" has nothing to do with what you'll be growing in this garden. It refers to the method of building the garden, which is, essentially, adding layers of organic materials that will “cook down” over time, resulting in rich, fluffy soil that will help your plants. You can make a lasagna garden at any time of year. Fall is an optimum time for many gardeners because of the number of organic materials you can get for free thanks to fallen leaves and general yard waste from cleaning up the rest of the yard and garden. If you choose to make a lasagna garden in spring or summer, you will need to consider adding more "soil-like" amendments to the bed, such as peat or topsoil, so that you can plant in the garden right away. 

With out further due, let’s get started and take a look at what you will need and the step by step process!

What You'll Need

• Grass clippings

• Leaves

• Fruit and vegetable scraps

• Coffee grounds

• Tea leaves and tea bags

• Weeds (not gone to seed)

• Manure

• Compost

• Seaweed

• Shredded newspaper or junk mail

• Pine needles

• Spent blooms, trimmings from the garden

• Peat moss

Instructions

1. Lay out the Garden Boundaries
   The first step is to define the boundaries of your garden. Rope, twine, or even a garden hose can be used to create the outline of your garden bed. There is no need to prepare the site at all since any existing grass or weeds will be smothered by the layers of cardboard or newspaper and other materials you'll be laying down.
   
   Because the layers will be stacked to a depth that is quite thick, you may want to create raised sides for your garden, using timbers, stones, or other hardscape materials to hold the organic materials in place as they decompose.
   

2. Place the Layers
   Just as with an edible lasagna, there is some importance to the methods you use to build your lasagna garden. Alternate layers of “browns” such as fall leaves, shredded newspaper, peat, and pine needles, with layers of “greens” such as vegetable scraps, garden trimmings, and grass clippings. Your "brown” layers should be about twice as deep as your “green” layers, but there's no need to get finicky about this. Just layer browns and greens, and a lasagna garden will result. The result of your layering process should be a 2-foot-tall layered bed. You'll be amazed at how much this will shrink down in a few short weeks.
   
   A layer of cardboard or multiple layers of newspaper makes an excellent bottom layer since this will nicely smother grass and weeds within the garden bed. Water this bottom layer to hold it in place and encourage the decomposition process. After this, it is a matter of alternating green and brown layers until you reach a 2-foot depth.
   
   

3. ”Cook” the Garden
   In most cases, you'll need to do nothing but watch as the garden materials begin to "cook" and break down. The rules for successful lasagna gardening are much the same as for any form of composting: The materials need to be slightly moist to encourage decomposition and heat, but not so wet that the materials rot and become smelly. In rare cases, such as during extended periods of drought, lightly water the organic layers to ensure that they don't dry out entirely.
   
   

4. Plant the Garden
   The time it takes for your garden to fully break down enough for planting will vary depending on conditions, but once the materials have decomposed into a uniform layer of loose compost-like material, the garden is ready to plant. When it's time to plant, just dig down into the bed as you would with any other garden. If you used newspaper as your bottom layer, the shovel will most likely go right through, exposing nice, loose soil underneath. If you used cardboard, you might have to cut a hole in it at each spot where you want to plant something.
   
   

5. Maintain the Garden
   To maintain the garden, simply add mulch regularly to the top of the bed in the form of straw, grass clippings, bark mulch, or chopped leaves. Once it's established, you will care for a lasagna garden just as you would any other: Weed and water when necessary, and plant to your heart's content.
   

Closing tips:

Over time, the organic materials in the garden will break down and shrink. Replenish the garden each year by simply adding more brown and green layers. Fall is a great time to do this since there is a plentiful supply of dead leaves and green garden plant material at your disposal.
Avoid using organic waste that has a lot of weed seeds in it. Unless the material "cooks" at a high enough temperature, these weed seeds will likely sprout in your garden. And never use animal waste in your lasagna layers.

We hope you guys enjoyed our post today, we would love to see photos of your Lasagna Gardens by tagging us on Facebook or Instagram @Galveston_Gardens