Oh, that's wonderful!! Your plants look real happy there. That's my favorite way to make a new bed or extend an old one - which I am doing now. Please do post your 'year later' pictures.

Ginny

thanks ginny. I just took some new photos but downloading them to the computer then to photoshop then to photobucket would take me two hours. so here's one from May 2007 to show how it's filled out.
Most of my garden is started from seeds because there aren't any native plant sellers here in Naples and that's what I really wanted to attract butterlies. The cassia/senna tree I got at a plant sale they hold once a year.

{{gwi:908905}}

My goal is to get the bed growing high enough to hide my neighbors side of their house. It's a pretty unatracctive side and no one lives there 50 weeks of the year.

Did you just put compost or soil on top of the newspaper layers, and then plant your plants? I'm interested in this!

Cheers!
Heather W

Here is a link that might be useful: Our ICF Home Construction Journal

Heather

I have been through many versions of lasagna beds both here in FL and back in DE and arrived at the simplest.
I buy bags of Jungle Growth at Lowes(not the potting mix, get the nursery blend) and add about one bag of aged compost (bag) for every bag of JGrowth. The JG bags are about 6 times as large so I guess it's 6:1.
When they've run out or I'm at the other store I buy what's there. The Jungle Mix is pretty low price compared to others and I think they are a "green" company.
I plant directly (I do not add any peat moss to my beds) and then mulch.
I have in the past tried to dig up my yard and amend the soil but it's just rocks and I've seen better growth with the newspaper/soil on top.
The biggest pain is hauling bag after bag home. I had a load delivered once but that $50 delivery charge could be better spent on plants and the beds are an ongoing project.

Denise
P.S. I plant trees in a hole not on top of the beds but bushes go on/in the bed

Denise, I never thought of doing it that way. It sure would be nice to plant right away and your bed has filled in so nicely. I'll have to try that method next time. I usually put down the newspaper or cardboard and top that with cheapie bags of compost and peat and all the kitchen scraps I can accumulate plus some of my regular compost, then I put the mulch on top and wait a few weeks for everything to decompose before planting. Next project is a new side bed and I'll try your method. Thanks for the heads up.

Ginny

Denise,

Beautiful bed and butterfly garden. I love the most recent, filled in look, but I miss the awesome sunflowers of the first photo!

There are as many ways of making a lasagna bed as there are people making them. I'm too cheap to buy anything to make them. I put the cardboard over grass to let it compost in place. Then I put anything organic on top. Usually I make them during Feb-March, leaf-dropping season around here. I collect beaucoup bags of leaves by the roadside on each recycling day. Pile those as high as I can, put free wood chips on top, and other stuff (neighbors' grass clippings, coffee grounds, etc.), and voila! You can plant right away or whenever you want. I've never spent a penny.

Last year, when we made most of our beds, my DH and I lugged over 500 bags of leaves home in the minivan. This year we brought home over 150. This was just during Feb-March. During the rest of the year there is not as much stuff available, so we just get what we can when we see it. Don't know what we'll do this next year, as we no longer have the minivan. Don't think too many will fit in the Prius, but I'm sure we'll find out!

Keep lasagna-ing!

Anna

Looks great, Denise! I didn't realize lasagna beds did their thing so quickly.

So watcha got growin' there? Is that a cassia or a jerusalem thorn tree?

anna
thank you. I still have sunflowers , I just plant the seeds in diff. places. I can't seem to get the kind of birds who like to eat the seeds though. I've added a birdbath in the rear yard and a feeder is next on my list.

nicki
thanks also. it's a desert cassia (senna polypylla)no thorns, not native. The sulfur BF's are attracted to it but I'm not sure it does much for them since I never see any cats on it. I've added a native senna bush since then. My neighbor has a bigger senna type tree that attracts them greatly. It's a pretty tree that I'll have to get the name of.

denise

denise how many sheets of paper,and how long before yoa added soil mix? thanks,patricia

patricia
make the newspaper (or cardboard) layer as thick as you can, it will decompose over time. my neighbors gave me their newspapers for weeks.
I found that wetting them first was better (I put them in the wheelbarrow and added water) because if I laid them out dry the wind blew them and made me frustrated. So I'd say 8-10 sheets miniumum thickness.
Add the soil on top as soon as the newspapers are down.
Put your plants in. Mulch well and water them in.
Don't be stingy with the soil, it will settle lower by 1/3.
Finally I like to edge around the bed with a foot-powered edger.

Ooohhh I am going to try this with my bananas! Thanks for sharing.

thanks denise,i already layed my paper 10 to 12 sheets thick,wet it and layed brick here and there...ya think it'll work? hope so,thanks