A Lasagna garden

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How to Make a Basic, No-Mess Lasagna Garden

by Josh Day

If this is your first time hearing the term "lasagna garden," you may be thinking it's something like a spaghetti garden, with herbs grown specifically for spaghetti sauce, like oregano and basil.

A lasagna garden is not that at all. It's an easy way to make a garden of almost any size, and all you need is soil, some sort of border to make a raised bed, and a whole lot of newspaper.

"Lasagna" refers to how the soil base is constructed.

Layers of soil are stacked between layers of newspaper with a generous portion of soil on top.

The best time to build a lasagna garden is in the fall. You need at least a season for the newspaper to break down and enrich the soil, as well as to ensure you've killed all the grass and weeds below. That's right, no tilling or weeding required -- you just lay your newspaper and soil over your desired spot and build up.

Start by picking an appropriate spot for your garden. At the time of writing this article, we've lived in our house for three years. We've made three lasagna gardens each fall. One failed because it was too large in area and we didn't lay enough newspaper or soil to effectively kill the grass below.

However, our two smaller lasagna gardens, against our carport, are thriving. We grow herbs in one garden and tomatoes and cucumbers in the other.

Now that you've picked a spot, soak the grass. Don't be shy; really spray the area down.

Once the ground is wet, lay your borders for the raised bed. These can be garden stones, old bricks, cinderblocks, or garden timbers.

Lay newspaper pages over the wet grass. Open the pages so each piece is only one single layer, no folded pieces. Cut or tear each piece as needed for the surface area.

Overlap the edges with another layer of newspaper, then one final layer.

Soak the newspaper well. You want the paper saturated, not just damp.

The bottom layer of newspaper is the most important as this is what will kill the grass and weeds below and ultimately turn them into rich compost and a refuge for earthworms.

Now add one to two inches of soil.

Repeat with another layer of newspaper, same as before, and soak once again. You'll notice the soil running away with the water under your raised bed borders. You'll also see settling as the weight of the paper pushes down on the soil.

Repeat the process two more times or until you're ready to add your final layer of soil.

When you've laid and soaked your last layer of newspaper, pour the remaining soil onto the wet paper. Continue until you've reached the top of your border, or even above it, like a cooked cake right out of the oven.

Soak the topsoil thoroughly. As the garden settles, you'll lose anywhere between two to six inches as the soil compresses.

Add more soil as needed after a couple days.

Now leave the garden alone. Monitor it for weed activity -- you should see nothing.

Leave your lasagna garden alone until late winter or early spring, and then you're ready to plant.

Suzi

List Owner

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What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.