No-till garden from scratch
Many Master Gardeners have related successful experiences with the lasagna garden method of creating new garden beds. Pat Lanza has popularized these techniques in her books, which I am determined to read. The concept is simple: cover areas of turf with newspaper or cardboard and then apply layers of organic materials, like shredded leaves, grass clippings, and compost. Over time, everything breaks down and so that you can plant seeds and seedlings directly into the bed without digging and turning the soil.
This fits perfectly with sustainable gardening- build up and conserve organic matter and prevent soil erosion and nutrient run-off. The added bonus is no weeds! But as a person who loves to see, smell, and feel soil, I was having a bit of a tough time embracing the concept. Well, we put it to an initial test this spring in one of the 4 new beds at the Grow It Eat It demo garden at the Central Maryland Research and Education Center in Ellicott City.
Newspaper was laid on an 8-ft. X 8-ft. area of turf in April and then covered with a 2-in. layer of LeafGro- a commercial yard waste compost. This picture was taken May 8. The grass clippings on the bed are from weed whacking the walkways (we then covered the walkways with shredded pine bark mulch). The edges of the newspaper are still visible.
June 12- bush bean, Swiss chard, kale, and cucumber were direct seeded in the LeafGro in late May, and are growing well. There are no signs of the newspaper or turf, other than decomposing roots.
Linda Branagan is the Howard Co. Master Gardener tending this demo garden. We'll report on yields later. For now, I'd give this method a big thumbs-up.
This fits perfectly with sustainable gardening- build up and conserve organic matter and prevent soil erosion and nutrient run-off. The added bonus is no weeds! But as a person who loves to see, smell, and feel soil, I was having a bit of a tough time embracing the concept. Well, we put it to an initial test this spring in one of the 4 new beds at the Grow It Eat It demo garden at the Central Maryland Research and Education Center in Ellicott City.
Newspaper was laid on an 8-ft. X 8-ft. area of turf in April and then covered with a 2-in. layer of LeafGro- a commercial yard waste compost. This picture was taken May 8. The grass clippings on the bed are from weed whacking the walkways (we then covered the walkways with shredded pine bark mulch). The edges of the newspaper are still visible.
June 12- bush bean, Swiss chard, kale, and cucumber were direct seeded in the LeafGro in late May, and are growing well. There are no signs of the newspaper or turf, other than decomposing roots.
Linda Branagan is the Howard Co. Master Gardener tending this demo garden. We'll report on yields later. For now, I'd give this method a big thumbs-up.
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