I'm not an expert, but mine is only 10 inches deep and I've planted in it with no problem. I would suggest that you top it of with finished compost and water it well. Once I watered mine down, it settled quite a bit and I was able to top it off the next day. It will continue to settle a bit for a while, but you top it off again after you harvest.

Hamiltongardner: I am looking for advice on how to plant in a new lasagna bed. What did you plant? I want to plant green beans, but my bed is still quite rough on the top, with pieces of leaves and some chunks of manure. I made the bed last fall.

Would you think that making a sort of trench in this material and filling it with a mixture of soil (from elsewhere on the property) and compost would be ok? Any idea how thick this should be?

I am sort of disappointed that the bed does not appear more "plantable". Am I rushing it too much?

Thanks for any advice/experience you can share.

Little pockets of soil around root balls of plants, or a couple inches to plant seeds in on top work well.

Hamiltongardener - That's encouraging! Unless I get incredibly motivated (and get another source of stuff), compost on top it will be! I'll see how this one goes...

Hollow oaks:
Are you planting seed or transplants? Transplants are ok, and most of the larger seeds wouldn't be a problem(peas, beans)but I have a devil of a time with finer seeds (radish, spinach) For finer seeds, you need a fine seed bed. Or at least I do. A layer of fine finished compost spread on top or topsoil from a garden center. It doesn't have to be a thick layer as most fine seeds should not be planted deeply. This makes everything easier for me.

The alternative is to get your hands dirty and break the top layer up manually. :) I've done that before too.

Irene:
I hope it all works out for you. I have a series of raised beds on ground that I didn't want to fight with. Crabgrass, weeds, ugh. The layers of newspaper have kept the weeds from coming through, which is a bonus. I also built the beds one at a time to spread the work and expense out a bit. Sometimes I had more materials available to put in the bed than at other times, such as kitchen scraps, leaves, or partially finished compost and I admit that I have "cheated" by buying bags of finished compost or manure to top off a bed I couldn't fill. I did this with my most recent bed that I made for strawberries. I was afraid because strawberries are in the ground for several years so I wanted to get it right the first time. It's harder to add to the bed while there's still plants in it.

All in all, these raised beds have been a lot easier for me than I thought. They seem to be very forgiving. :)

hamilton: I am going to both plant tomatoes, peppers and hopefully eggplant. So for those I am going to make soil/compost pockets. And then I want to sow green beans. I was thinking of making a little trench in the lasagna material, maybe4-5 inches deep, put in soil/compost mixture and sow the beans that way. I have another place for the smaller seeded vegetables.

What do you mean by "break the top layer up manually", do you mean the soil under the lasagna or do you mean crush up the top layer of the lasagna so it will be finer?

Thanks a lot for your interest and help!!!

Hollow Oaks:
The trench sounds like a great idea. I say go for it. The only thing I wonder is if you need to make the trench that deep (4-5 inches) I don't think it matters much either way, it's whatever you're comfortable with. Some other people may have thoughts on this, or other helpful tips though.

What I meant was crushing up the top layer with your hands so it would be finer. It's not that I think it's necessary, just that if you are more comfortable planting in a finer medium, that would work. I'm like that, I'm more comfortable when it "looks" better, less clumpy, at least on the top. Breaking chunks of manure or tearing bits of leaves or breaking bits of leftover twig just a bit smaller. I do that a lot. I think it's a psychological thing, thinking it will decompose faster the smaller it is. I guess I'm impatient too.

I grow green beans every year, and they are always heavy producers. It's too early for me to plant them yet, but it won't be long now. Green beans and tomatoes are going in next month for my area.

Hamiltongardner: Thank you so much for your encouragement. As soon as I feel better (flu), I will put in green beans. They are really my most favourite vegetable. And I don't mind breaking up the stuff in the bed with my hands, that's gardening - hands on.

Good luck with your garden, I see you are in Canada, so you are going to have to wait a little longer. I am in North Carolina and people here are already planting their warm weather veggies.

I have made new lasagna beds every year for the past 4. I often plant in them within a week or two of building them. I try to spread a thin layer of compost on the top, and plant seeds or small plants in that. Never more than an inch or two, because who has that much compost? I only use free ingredients, I fill the beds to the very top, or even heaped if giving them time to settle.

Last fall I put a layer of manure over the compost that was topping off a raised bed made the year before. I removed many of the manure lumps that were sitting on top before planting, just because they seemed so large and clumpy. I planted a variety of early things: lettuces, spinach, radishes, kohlrabi, cilantro, dill, and parsley. Lots of stuff coming up now, so it not being really fine didn't seem to matter, although I will have to wait to see what it is. I didn't plant THAT many radishes and spinach, so it can't all just be the big seeds.

As for the original poster, fill your bed way up to the top, because it will definitely settle this season. Then just add stuff every fall. I put in horse manure and compost each fall, figuring by spring it is fine.

Marcia