It just depends on the angle of the slope and the amount of water that will run down it.

Approximately how steep is the slope?

While I can understand not wanting to do the heavy work of digging in the soil, if the slope does erode quickly then some digging becomes necessary in the form of terracing.

Alternately depending on how water runoff in your yard flows it may be possible to use drain tiles and the like to reroute runoff to avoid the slope and reduce erosion. That still requires digging though.

Anyway, if you can tell us roughly how steep (in degrees) the slope is we can try to come up with solutions that may work for you.

Slope is about 30 degrees. The top of the yard levels off and is wooded behind my yard, so no runoff other than what hits the garden site. The site isn't particularly eroded now, no gulleys or anything. Just a scraggly lawn which gets badly dried out due to the fact it is clay and faces South.

I figure my alternatives are:

1. leave like it is (big piles of pulverized leaves around the garden site) and spread them in Spring as compost

2. spread the pulverized leaves right now and let them break down over Winter

3. put down paper and spread the leaves (now or in the Spring)

Making terraces or drain system is way beyond what I would want to take on.

Thanks for any advice you can give; I'm just wondering whether Lasagna method is only appropriate on flat ground.

Well, I haven't tried lasagna on anything other that flat ground so I can't say from experience, but I don't think lasagna is going to do well on a 30 degree slope. The reason is that the cardboard/paper layer isn't in good contact with the ground. The leaves on top of the paper aren't in good contact with the cardboard layer. I would be afraid it would all just end up at the bottom of the slope after a good rain.

Having said that you could use earth staples to secure the cardboard in place reasonably well. Having to fork the leaves back in place in the event some move down probably isn't the end of the world.

Hopefully someone who has tried this already can provide better assistance. Good luck and good gardening.

I just read on the minifarms site that a farmer in honduras with a 73 degree slope uses organic no-till permanent bed farming and had no erosion during a hurricane. The site says: "The beds plus green manure/cover crops/mulching controls erosion."

I will be trying this same thing eventually, as part of my land is significantly sloped. I'm not growing on that part this year. When I wrote to the guy who runs the above site, he said that until I plant on my sloped land, I should just mark out the beds and plant them in a smothering cover crop/green manure, which will eventually crowd out the weeds there now.

I wonder if providing other channels for the water to flow is important, too.

Don't know much about it yet -- but I'd love to know what your experience is this season!

Thanks for the feedback. I will probably wait until spring and then spread compost. Wouldn't want to have to clean up after a storm dumps all the paper and mulch at the bottom of the hill.

I think I read about the Cental American farmers on slopes using permaculture. That's what gives me confidence I can raise vegetables there with enough compost and mulch, erosion shouldn't be a problem.

Looks like I'll have to do some cultivation to remove the grass and weeds.

Hi Ed,
I don't have a 30% slope - maybe more like 20-25% -- but lasagna worked just fine for me. I think that unless you are subject to flash flooding, layers of cardboard/newspaper, topped with shredded leaves, grass clippings, compost, manure, dirt -- whatever you have -- should cook down just fine. I do think that topping with a shovelful of dirt here and there will help hold things in place.

Also, I didn't terrace, but each bed is perpendicular to the slope (contour planting), so they descend the hillside while each remains relatively level. I guess the terracing is inherent in the paths being below the beds as they descend the slope.

Erosion during the growing season wasn't a problem at all. I mulched thickly with spoiled hay and grass clippings.
hope this helps,
Laura

Thanks, Laura, that's just what I wanted to know, if anyone had done it successfully. I think I'll hold on to the yard waste bags and try Lasagna in the Spring.

You can do that, but if you spread things now, they will start to break down over the winter and be ready to plant into in the spring. But you may prefer to skip the planting season next year and concentrate on bed preparation.

Once I'd smothered a large area with the newspaper, leaves, etc., I began to pile more material in beds within this area, each about 3 by 6 or 8. This worked quite well when it came time to plant.

However, I think I will put down more newspaper in the paths this year to control grass. Haven't figured out yet what I'll cover the paper with. Any suggestions out there?

I did a slope last spring. I'd say it was probably a 30 degree slope. I used newspaper and covered it with a nice thick layer of chipped tree trimmings. Around here we call it a sidehill. I'd say the area is about 30' by 15'. It's just a continuation of a garden I started 20 years ago. I didn't use newspaper back then, just threw the chips on the soil. I did have to do a little work to pull the grass out that came up through. One of my first successes with mulching.
My veggy garden is terraced with about a 10" to 12" drop every six feet to give you an idea what king of slope I am dealing with. There is no flat place in my yard except those places that we flattened.
I put Asperagus, strawberries and horseradish up there so far. Please don't mind the spelling.

Thanks Alinehuey, another confirmation. You call a hillside a sidehill, eh? Are you by any chance Dutch? :-)

Made a lasagna perennial bed on a hillside/sidehill in early summer. Heavy rains (Tropical storm) created a few problems, though easily remedied. Started with cardboard and/or newspapers, then just piled on lots of good organic material, with some peat, soil and finished compost thrown in, and set some large rocks at the "bottom" of the slope. Planted heavily. Topped with pine bark mulch and later grass clippings/leaves for extra winter protection. So far, so good. Lasagna is the way to go for me!

Some of my lasagna beds are on a slight slope, not 30 degrees but still noticeable. We work around the slope by putting boards that frame the bed shorter on the upside and higher on the downside so that overall the height of the top of the bed is more level. (We use random old boards for the sides.) Since the contents are somewhat contained there isn't visible runoff. Do grow things on the downside outside the lasagna bed, though, as some nutrients will run that way for sure when it rains. We had amazingly giant pears on a small spindly tree just downslope 2 feet from one raised bed last summer.

Marcia