By Julie Christensen
Maybe you’re the type of gardener who loves spending hours in the garden – tilling it in the spring and weeding and watering it through the rest of the summer. Perhaps you have a flexible work schedule and children who make their own meals, do their own laundry and clean up after themselves without being asked. If so, lasagna gardening probably isn’t for you.
If, though, you’re like the other 99 percent of gardeners, then you’re hanging on by the skin of your teeth, trying to do it all. You might start the gardening season with plenty of enthusiasm, but by mid-July, the heat and your hectic schedule have dimmed your passion for pulling weeds. If this scenario sounds more like you, you’ll love lasagna gardening (also called sheet mulching or “no dig” gardening).
Patricia Lanza first introduced the concept of lasagna gardening in her 1998 book, Lasagna Gardening: a New System of Layering for Bountiful Gardens. A busy mother of seven children and an inn owner, she simply didn’t have time to care for her vegetable garden using traditional techniques. Over several years, she developed a gardening strategy that reduced the time spent weeding, watering and tilling by at least 60 percent. Below, you’ll find step-by-step instructions for getting started:
1) To establish a new garden area, lay black and white newspaper or cardboard over existing vegetation, including weeds and grass. Wet these materials thoroughly with a hose. This will smother the plants already there and keep new weeds from coming up.
2) Gather materials for your lasagna garden. You’ll need lots of “brown” materials, such as peat moss, straw, wood chips, dry leaves, shredded office paper, sawdust or newspaper. These ingredients are dry and decompose quickly. They’re usually bulky, ensuring light, oxygen-rich soil. You’ll also need “green” materials. If you’ve composted before, you know that green materials are nitrogen-rich matter that is dense and moist. Green materials include compost, manure, untreated grass clippings, animal bedding, yard waste, vegetarian kitchen waste, coffee grounds, seaweed and blood meal.
3) Start layering your lasagna garden by alternating 5-inch layers of brown material with 3-inch layers of green material. Top the garden bed off with 5 inches of garden soil. Although you can build a lasagna garden any time of the year, fall is the best time. Materials, such as dried leaves, are plentiful at the end of the gardening season and by starting the garden in the fall, you allow time for the soil amendments to break down and blend together.
4) When spring arrives, it’s planting time. There’s no need to till a lasagna garden because its layers guarantee a soft, pliable growing medium. Simply plant your seeds, water and you’re ready to go.
5) Once seedlings emerge, spread a 6-inch layer of weed-free straw over the garden surface. The straw breaks down over time, adding even more organic matter to your soil. In the meantime, though, it conserves water and keeps weed growth down. Although weed-free straw doesn’t contain weed seeds, it often contains barley or wheat seeds, which germinate and grow as grasses. To deal with these, simply turn the straw over, which smothers them.
6) Every fall, add a few more layers to your lasagna garden for soil that becomes richer as the years go by.
The point of the lasagna garden is to simplify your life by using natural, organic methods, but the above method is merely a starting point. Experiment to find the method that works best for your gardening situation. Don’t go to great lengths to acquire materials for the layers. Simply use what you have in your yard or close at hand.
Although lasagna gardening can work on a large, traditional garden, most lasagna gardeners make raised beds with paths running between them. Raised beds can be as simple as raised mounds of soil, or as permanent as frames made with wood, rock or cinder block. To make paths, simply lay cardboard where you want the paths, wet it well and mulch with wood chips or gravel.
Finally, lasagna gardening and good water conservation strategies go hand in hand. If you use overhead sprinklers, some of the water will run off the straw mulch. Lay soaker hoses underneath the straw mulch instead. The water goes directly to plants’ roots and the straw mulch prevents evaporation.
To learn more about lasagna gardening, visit the following links:
Lasagna Gardening from Mother Earth News
GrowOrganic.com also has a great video covering the basics of no till lasagna gardening.
Julie Christensen learned about gardening on her grandfather’s farm and mother’s vegetable garden in southern Idaho. Today, she lives and gardens on the high plains of Colorado. When she’s not digging in the dirt, Julie writes about food, education, parenting and gardening.
office paper and newspaper contain bleach and are super nasty for the environment….definitely not to be used in gardens that produce food intended for consumption……however recycled unbleached paper and leaves are a great substitute
here is a link to a study on newspaper toxicity, I didn’t have the time to read all of it, but it might enlighten someone
http://ohioline.osu.edu/cd-fact/0122.html
that was my first thought when I saw newspaper being put down. What are your thoughts on cardboard, they say the worms love them?
Dear Julie, Wonderful article! You kept it real and simple and that is what Lasagna Gardening is all about. Those who want to make this method hard just miss the point. My inspiration for the method, and books, is Mother Nature and I still practice it every day in my Tennessee gardens. Recently when a family need arose I left the gardens to take care of it and just let my cousin cut grass and cover as much ground as possible with grass clippings. Tomorrow we begin to clean up from a summer of neglect but it could have been worse without the layers of clippings. Weed control is a by-product of the process of improving soil. Thank you for such a good piece of work and I am honored you wrote about Lasagna Gardening. All the best, Patricia Lanza
You handled that very well. Proud of you! I enjoy reading about your gardening method and have had great success with it! Thank you Patricia Lanza!
Is it ok to use pine straw in lasagna gardening?
Of course! It’s a bit acidic and it may keep weeds away better for that reason. I used some this year. It’s a little sharp when you get the ends of it though. No bare feet and do wear gloves.
Unless you buy “cleaned” straw you’re going to be in for some weeds…I learned the hard way not to use straw in my garden.
Lasagna Gardening is the story of how I coped with bad soil, little money and a power tool handicap. I didn’t worry about the ink in paper, weed seeds in straw or other roadblocks but just got lots of free organic stuff piled up so nature could take it’s course. I went to the dump on Monday and took stacks of newspapers and cardboard home. Later I found out the ink was mostly soy based so no worry about harmful contents. I never worried about weed seeds and paid the price when I used fresh horse manure one year. I still used it but put it under thick pads of wet newspaper. Straw was not high on my list of layers but spoiled hay was as I could get it free from farmers. T he photo used in this article was an example but not to be taken for how to make a lasagna garden.
This sounds great but i like an organic garden for health reasons. Im concerned about the newpaper having toxic chemical which would get into my plants. Does anyone have a better suggestion than newpapers?
Most newspaper ink is soy based with the exception of slick or glossy pages. Cardboard is also good especially for paths. I have a FB page dedicated to gardening: Patricia Lanza, author.
If you read newsprint, are you worried that by making skin contact these toxins will leach into your skin?
When I began to practice this method I lived in zone 2/3 in NYS. We had less warm growing weather than Alaska. I have layered on top of the snow and I have layered in late fall, just as snow was falling and it all works. I have been doing this for 30 years and am well and healthy. In other words, newspaper didn’t kill me. I know I am answering two questions here but you can’t start at a bad time and newspaper is organic, unless it is slick paper (magazines, coupons, etc).
Thank you for this article! I just moved to a new place and my new backyard is very large, and needs an extra care. I’m like these 99 percent of gardeners who don’t have enough time for anything, and also I have only basic knowledges in gardening. Your post is very helpful for me, thank you for sharing it!
Faith, Welcome to Lasagna Gardening. When I have large spaces to contend with I grid them and do small areas instead of trying to do the whole space. My email address is above and my facebook page dedicated to gardening is Patricia Lanza, author. Good luck!
Indoor gardening is easier for me and I will stick to it.
I do think that Ruth Stout deserves a bit of credit for first publishing this idea oh, about 75 years ago. I agree that the times have changed and I’m sure the idea has been modernized in Lasagna but to claim this idea as original is a far stretch. Even though they were written in the 50’s, Ruth’s books are still very relevant today.
Would woodchips from our chicken coop work for a layer? We clean the coop once a week and go through about 4 big bags of wood chips. Am looking forward to trying this.
I’m in rural Alaska. Could I start layering over the snow on the ground, in preparation for next year? Our outdoor planting season doesn’t start until late May, but then we have 20 hours of daylight in the summer to make up for the short growing season. 🙂 Thanks. Kim
Be careful using sawdust as the article states. It’s density causes slow decomposition.
http://www.gardensalive.com/product/what-can-you-do-with-sawdust/you_bet_your_garden
Im surprised at some of the smart ass comments I see on here. If you don’t agree with, or like the suggestions, find a new article that fits your whim.
Thank you for the article btw. I’m in my second year of gardening at a new property in South Louisiana. Last year was rough. The soil is sandy clay, and the summer heat is brutal. I haven’t gardened since I was a kid, and my Red Neck Step Dad forced me to work 5 days a week in the garden. Now, at 51. I get it. I have a question if someone has an answer. Actually, a couple of them. I saw a question about using pine straw, but the only response I saw was obviously about other types of straw, as pine straw has no seeds. Can I use pine straw. Hope so, because I already piled it in. I have several acres of land that were hit hard for Hurricane Katrina. There are a bunch of dead, fallen pines that have rotted where they fell. They’ve been there since Katrina. In the process of dragging the lighter pine out, I’m left with this beautiful red/brown soil looking rotten wood. Tons of it. Can I use this rotten pine? I’m not worried about this making the soil more acidic than it already is. This is obviously a myth. I’ve tested all of my soil, and the pine has no affect on the acidity. My concern is that it will rob too much nitrogen from the soil. I’m probably overthinking this.
Urinate on the wood to prevent nitrogen sequestering.
Therefore nothing lazy about it!! We have about 4″ of top soil and then clay, and I mean hard rock concrete clay. We did the lasagna garden on top of cardboard and we had the best garden I’ve ever seen!
lasagna gardening is great , although if i want to start a new spot for the following year. I had a 6×8 indoor carpet that was so stained i moved it outside to the back porchwhen we discussed making a new bed i dragged that carpet to that spot and left it there in the hot sun for 2-3 weeks when I removed it all the grass was dead and rotten and there were worms galore. It was then that I made my lasagna bed and added to it through the rest of the summer into fall,( i have both horses and chickens so the chicken coop cleanout went in after the cardboard and newspapers, I use shavings; straw and shredded paper in with the chickens) chicken coop gets cleaned out 1x month in warm weather 2x’s thru winter so by the following spring i had plenty of both horse and chicken manure plus the bedding , i dont mix it until im ready to plant. and when i do plant i just move the top dry stuff to the side and use that layer as a mulch. this has worked for me for years
This is great. And it being autumn (fall) in South Africa it’s the perfect time.
My question is where do we get the garden soil for right at the top?