I kind of did it by accident. Last year, there were a lot of leaves clogging the gutter in the street, so I started shoveling them up and dumping them on the garden. I also sarted progressively mowing the lawn shorter and raking the clippings in preparation for overseeding. So I'd rake the clippings and pile them on the leaves, and the next shovelsful of leaves would be the next layer. I also dumped some coffee grounds and unfinished compost on.

It was about 3 feet high at the start of winter and about 6 inches high this spring when several pumpkin plants sprouted from the unfinished compost. They've thrived to the point that my daughter refers to them as Audrey II (from the Little Shop Of Horrors).

This past spring I collected all of the "ingredients" I could find and used them for lasagna layers in my veggie garden.

I layered wet newspaper several pages thick right on top of uncultivated ground, followed by various layers not necessarily in any certain order of kitchen scraps, pine needles, leaves, grass clippings, bit of bagged compost, topsoil, and peat moss.

I didn't wait at all and planted in it right away and everything seems to be thriving. I know some plants would do better with the new layered bed sitting for a season before planting though. I also covered put down soaker hoses and then covered with a thick layer of straw mulch after I planted.

I love how easy it is and there are tons of worms. I've attached an article about lasagna gardening.

Have fun,
Charlene

Here is a link that might be useful: Magazine article about lasagna gardening

I have not had a lot of luck with it - things will break down and there will be a lovely layer of organic stuff on top, but it doesn't work down into the tight clay very well. I tend to lasagna the area, let it sit overwinter, then till it in Spring, and re-lasagna. That makes the bed nice and friable. We just planted bulbs in a bed prepared that way, and there were heaps of worms all the way through the soil. It seems to speed up their work, and it puts organic goodies all through the soil.

Cheers,
Michelle

Michelle and Charlene, thanks for the input... I remember reading a little bit about Charlene's veg garden lasagne when I first joined.

I have some lawn that we want to get rid of. Basically there's a strip of shrubs, each about 4 feet apart (Lilac, burning bush, lilac, burning bush, spirea). This is at the edge of the property, abutting our neighbors xeriscape. It's a pain to mow, and seems like a purposeless zone as far as lawn is concerned. So I thought, get rid of the grass, maybe underplant the shrubs at some point and mulch.

But I wasn't sure if the lasagne method would handle killing the grass. I've read somewhere about using Roundup first, but I'm not too keen on that.

Charlene, what was growing in your "uncultivated ground"?

Alice-- nothing had ever been planted in this area so it was just prairie weeds growing. I think this method would definitely kill your grass if it could kill quack grass and bindweed. I might mow it really short first and then put the wet newspaper or cardboard right on top.

Thanks to all for the useful info to my first question on this forum! I think I was confusing the lasagna method with just solar method of killing grass. As a result of the magazine article and your info, I think I get the lasagna thing now and will try this this fall to convert more of my lawn into flower beds, which is my main goal. I will now start madly rounding up more organic material, as it looks like I will need a lot! I will try to get over the days I spent de-sodding and digging up the beds I've already put in! Thanks.

I did some lasagna beds in my veggie garden area last spring, but because of the Baby King who arrived at our home in April, we never had much time for the veggie garden this year. We only planted two tomato plants and let the other sections sit fallow.

But in my haste to do this and smother a bunch of weeds that were growing in the garden, I used some compost that wasn't fully composted, mixed with some leftover good compost I had bought. I figured that since I wasn't likely to plant much this year, I'll let it compost some more as it sits there. Well, that partially composted stuff had tons of morning glory seeds (the nice flowering kind -- not bindweed) and the seeds from an awful, invasive mallow I had bought. So, instead of the native weeds in my garden, I had a huge crop of these imported mallow and morning glory weeds this summer! I just finally yanked all of them last weekend.

Anyway, I guess that's a caution that if you're making your own compost, either throw away any plant litter with seeds you don't want or be sure to *really* compost things and generate the heat needed to kill the seeds.

And by the way, Mr. Baby King (our little McKay) is doing great! We gladly sacrificed a few veggies to spend more time with him this summer. Such a cute little guy!

So, whaddya think little guy, shall we go for lasagna or pizza?!?

Careful out there under that Utah sun, Dad. He's goin' to need that topper!

digitS'

Thanks Charlene... I'm going to pester the neighbors for newspapers tonight!

Stevation, he's a sweety. Not a hard choice to make, giving up the gardening!