Lasagna Gardening

Nothing makes me love spring like reading a gardening book in the cold, gray, wet winter. This past January, I was fortunate enough to find Lasagna Gardening by Patricia Lanza in my local library.

Now that I know I have a week off coming up in the spring, I am ready to start layering my garden, and I don't mean with ricotta cheese. A lasagna garden is made of layers, like our favorite Italian casserole, but the garden layers start with wet newspaper and build up with peat moss, dirt, barn litter, whatever's cooking in your compost heap, dried-up leaves, etc. Keep layering away on top of the ground, and when you get to about 18-24 inches tall/deep, you are ready to plant.

One thing about this idea that appeals to me is that it is a no-till way of gardening. I don't own a tiller, so this is sounding better to me all the time.

The question now is, what to plant? I am thinking yellow squash and zucchini, pink eye-purple hull peas and maybe some peppers and tomatoes, although some wildflower mix might be nice for indoor bouquets. In another part of the yard, I am thinking about putting in some blueberry bushes. It's a sure sign of spring when I start dreaming up all the things I'm going to plant. The plants never produce quite like I want them to, with the exception of zucchini. One summer, I overplanted zucchini and everyone I knew got a gift of homegrown zucchini that year! Maybe this will be the year the rest of the garden takes off!

Here is a link to a Mother Earth News article by Lanza -- enjoy!

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/1999-04-01/Lasagna-Gardening.aspx