Magnolia, I just keep mulching my lasagna beds, using free grass clippings (curbside bags) throughout the season. At some point I add composted manure and then I always pile on lots of chopped fall leaves for the winter. They're ready to go in spring. No digging, no tilling. I use liquid fish emulsion during the growing season, and add lime wherever I'm planting tomatoes the next season.
Hope this helps.

Just like rosebush says. Keep mulching/layering stuff on top throughout the growing season (and beyond if possible)...grass clippings, leaves, straw, compost. The ones I started year before last are still going strong with this method.

They naturally shrink and settle as they decompose. So yes, as the others have said you just keep adding more layers throughout the growing season (that's the crucial point). Lasagna beds aren't just a once a year job - it is a continuous process. ;)

Dave

By the time next spring rolls around (year two) your layered garden will have settled, then you will treat it like any other garden: you can add aged compost in the spring before planting, and aged compost or mulches during the growing season to side dress or conserve moisture, and in the fall add a layer of aged manure. Then you can go forward with your winter crops or cover crops and in the third spring add aged compost again and so on. These additions will renew the macro and micro nutrients and if you are not walking or stepping into the garden the planting bed will remain loose and ready for sowing.

Here is a link that might be useful: HarvestToTable.com

Has anyone done this on a gentle slope? I have no flat areas in my yard - I live on the side of a hill. I'm turning a roughly 20' x 15' area into a veggie garden but would do just about anything to avoid having to dig out all that sod!! Can I build raised beds on a slope? I could then just put newspaper down and dump mulch in between the beds. And I wouldn't have to dig out so many of the New England rocks in my soil!!

I pretty much know how to make a lasagna bed, but it's making the "boxes" on the slope I'm wondering about. I suppose the boxes can just follow the slope of the ground - I don't "have" to level them - it's not a steep slope, but it's no where near level. Not by a longshot.

Lisa

Lisa,
Check out the Square Foot Gardening forum. There was a thread recently about building raised beds on a slope and how to do it without digging it all out.

Thanks for all the advice!

Lisa,
My beds are on a slope, as most of my land is hilly and I don't have heavy-machinery to remedy the situation. LOL
I just put barn boards on one side, the lowest, and use rebar or stakes to hold them. This makes them like terraced beds, since I leave a path in between each. Beds are about 4' X 8' and some of them are 4' X 12'.