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| Lasagna is so much more intriguing than sheet mulching, which is - of course - sheet composting. |
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| Shewell-Cooper is my favorite British gardening guru: he showed that compost left on top of the soil will be pulled down by worms. |
I kept getting emails about Lasagna Gardening, originating from the Rodale Organic Gardening people.
One person responded to someone who complained - this was not new but old - from Ruth Stout of mulching fame -
bill in detroit
3/7/2009 4:46:42 PM
And Ruth Stout was preceded by the Irish who were preceded by ... who were preceded by ... your point is? This information isn't, obviously, passed down through some sort of 'cosmic consciousness'. Many who have never heard of Ruth Stout will learn about this technique from Patricia Lanza ... and whoever follows her. @Stacey ... read the article again. The process uses several layers and is based on decomposition, not soil, for its success. But be encouraged, you only need to continue the process for it to be effective. The higher the stack is in the fall, the better the garden is in the summer.
Here is another Lasagna Gardening article from The Spruce.
Feeling like I discovered the Lost Dutchman's Goldmine, I wanted to lay a claim too - for Creation Gardening.
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| Creation Gardening: By Him Were All Things Made |
But as calmer gardeners will admit - using organic matter to improve the soil is as old as the ancient Egyptians, who made harming an earthworm a capital offense. They realized what pulled organic matter into their soil.
I am glad they are promoting Lasagna Gardening, because it is another way to describe no-till methods based purely on building up the soil instead of whirling it around like a tossed salad.
Our entire front yard was developed this way. The first layers were cardboard and newspapers, topped by shredded cyprus mulch. The rich clay soil was improved with leaves, the roots of all the new plants, and Uncle Jim's red wiggler earthworms.
I discovered, as one Lasagna gardener did, that good plants left alone and swarmed by weeds would still produce. I had roses that bloomed well when surrounded by weeds. However, that was not my favorite setting for them.
I also discovered that divided forces do not work well. I planted a second rose garden, and that divided my efforts all the time.
Lessons that developed from experience, reading, and YouTube are:
- Compost is good, but heavy, so why not compost on the spot?
- Sod makes the best compost, so why not plant in it and mulch the surrounding grass into compost?
- A large rose garden mulched with shredded wood will produce great roses and incredible grassy weeds - thus groundcovers are needed.
- Fungus and bacteria are really the foundations of great soil, so all life above them depend on those perfectly created, engineered, and managed life forms. If you make a point not to kick out the computer network plug, how much careful should you be to keep the fungus network in place?
- The Carbon Cowboys/Covercrop farmers taught me how valuable deep roots are for improving the soil
- Jessica Walliser wrote the classic on beneficial bugs, a concept my mother taught all of us kids long ago in Moline.
- Birds and bugs go well together, but birds should be fed near the most used windows. Squirrels add to the entertainment.
- The Jackson EZ Bird Swing is easily assembled and great fun for birds and squirrels.
- There is no such thing as a squirrel-proof bird-feeder, so just get over it. Given enough feeding stations, everyone will be happy.
- Generous amounts of water are good for birds and also encourage such pest-predators as toads.
- Never haul organics out of the yard. Carry them into the yard and recycle garden trash after the winter is over.
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| Those Days on the Farm |
