How ‘Lasagna Gardening’ Helps Create Healthy Soil – HowStuffWorks

A garden is a piece of ground that is used for the cultivation of vegetables, herbs and fruits. It can also be an area that has a variety of plants planted together for aesthetic purposes.

Organic gardening is a concept that is based on good farming practices from the past and modern knowledge of soil fertilization and pest management. It is a form of agriculture that encourages biodiversity and protects animal welfare, improves soil fertility and water quality.

The best time to start sheet composting is in the fall, after the first frost, when the grass will already be dormant. That said, you can begin any time of year, and the method will still work. If the area you’ll be building your garden on is grassy, just mow it down as low as possible.

The bottom-most layer of your “lasagna” bed should be cardboard. You can buy new corrugated cardboard in a roll, or you can simply recycle. Look for boxes with little ink on them, and make sure to peel off any tape or plastic. Unfold them and lay them flat in the garden, overlapping at the edges to make sure you cover the whole area.

Cardboard serves a dual purpose as the bottom layer. As it traps heat and the ground underneath gets warm, the seeds of dormant grasses and weeds will germinate. But once they do, the cardboard will keep them from getting any light, and they’ll soon die. This layer is your best weapon against weeds.

Source: home.howstuffworks.com