Lightning bugs and lasagna love

I saw my first lightning bug of the year last night - a definite harbinger of summer! And I have a new love. Lasagna gardening. I first heard of it here - these chicks are just plain awesome. Play around on their blog and I'm sure you will come to agree with me on that. Anyhoo - lasagna gardening - also called layered composting and compost sheeting - just plain rocks. Here in the suburban wasteland, our soil is as hard as a rock. Digging down into this hard soil has kept my plans for new beds pretty stunted for the last few years. I mean, I had to REALLY want it. Square foot gardening gave me the encouragement I needed to start vegetable gardening this year. Now, lasagna gardening allows me to plant whatever, whenever. The easiest time to do it would probably be in the fall, because you could set it up and leave it to compost over the winter. Then, come spring you'd be set. Of course, I have never been known to do things the easiest way. But that's just another reason to love lasagna gardening - even the hard way is easy.

To build a lasagna garden, you build up instead of digging down, and you assemble it sort of like a lasagna...in layers. Begin right on top of the turf with something that will act as a weed barrier. Some people use cardboard or newspaper. I used brown paper grocery bags because that's what I had on hand. Lay it down and give it some water so it won't blow away. Then, start layering organic material over it. I used dried-out leaves from my mom's house and compost. I watered between layers. Unfortunately, I underestimated the amount of time it would take for me to make compost in my compost tumbler in late winter/early spring, so I bought some. On one of the bottom layers, I did use some of my own partially-composted goods. But I digress. I also used purchased manure for a couple of the layers. Since I planned to use and plant in my beds immediately, I used a lot of dirt-like material (compost and manure) in the layers, especially the upper layers, and topped it all off with a couple of bags of top soil. If you can let the bed sit over winter, you don't need to use so much dirt stuff in your assembly because the organic materials you layer will break down into the awesomest stuff ever. My finished beds were probably 18" tall, but I expect them to settle quite a bit. I immediately planted roses and strawberries in one bed and roses and peppers in another. I swear the strawberries grew an inch that first night.

Since we want to add a couple more raised beds to our veggie garden next year, I will plan ahead and (if I can get hubby to build the boxes this fall instead of waiting for spring) use the lasagna method to fill the beds. Then they should be ready for planting by spring.

Ira Flatow had a couple of great discussions today during the second hour of Science Friday. One of them was about the importance of replenishing native plant species to our local food webs. The second was a conversation with Lester Brown about his new book on food shortages and the effects on civilization. You can download the podcast for free, or check out Lester Brown's book. Is NPR considered mainstream media? I think it is, but I'm probably biased because I'm pretty weird and decidedly nerdy. So, if you do consider NPR mainstream, then the topic of food shortages is going mainstream. Things that make you go, "Hmmm." Maybe in a few years, I won't be the doomer weirdo of the family. Well, I'll probably always fall into *some* category of weirdo. It's okay. I'm learning to embrace that about myself. ;-)
TTFN,
Brooke