Lasagna gardening: an expert guide to this no-dig method | – Homes & Gardens

raised bed garden ideas for low-maintenance planters.

Why should I try the lasagna gardening method?

There is a range of benefits that lasagna gardens can offer. The main one is that it is a method that saves waste and makes use of materials that may otherwise be sent off to landfills. It makes it an environmentally-friendly method of gardening as the likes of cardboard, newspapers, grass clippings, garden waste, kitchen scraps, and more can all be used to make lasagna beds.

Allison Vallin Kostovick (opens in new tab), organic gardener and the creator of Finch + Folly, adds that no tools are required to create these ‘incredible, rich garden beds’ that are a ‘win-win’ as they repurpose lots of waste.

‘These no-till gardens, also known as sheet mulching, are wonderful because they are built on items you’re probably looking to get rid of, like broken branches, dried leaves and kitchen waste,’ she adds.

‘Because these beds are built on a foundation that focuses on carbon and nitrogen creation, you’re essentially creating self-sustaining compost-rich beds that will enrich your soil as they gradually break down. These beds also tend to be fairly drought-friendly as they hold and retain water and slowly leech it out into the soil over the season.’

Lasagna beds are also likely to experience fewer weeds, thanks to the layers of cardboard and other suppressing material, and require less fertilizer to be added as the soil made by the decomposing materials will be rich in nutrients needed by plants. No dig and lasagna beds are full of nutrient-rich compost that offers essential nutrients in the form of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium – seen as NPK on plant fertilizer labels – that are released slowly to the plants.

Allison Vallin Kostovick

Allison Vallin Kostovick (opens in new tab) is a long-time organic gardener with over 25 years of experience and the author of ‘The Garden Maker’s Book of Wonder’, due to be published in August 2023 by Storey Publishing. She is also the creator of Finch + Folly, an educational website filled with advice and articles for gardeners. Over three-quarters of her garden has been built via lasagna methods.

How to make a lasagna bed

A lasagna bed is very simple to build and can be done in just five steps, providing you have enough materials at hand to be able to make the layers.

1. To make a lasagne bed choose a sunny spot and lay down newspaper or cardboard to create the base – this can be done directly on top of a lawn. 
2. Ensure to overlap the sheet materials and wet them well.  
3. Then it is a case of starting the layers, starting with a mixture of twigs or branches, followed by a 3-5 inch layer of ‘brown ingredients’ such as dried leaves, shredded newspaper, wood ash, pine needles or straw. 
4. Follow that with a layer of ‘green ingredients’ like grass clippings, kitchen scraps, or garden waste, again aiming for it to be 3-5 inches deep. 
5. Repeat with another layer of ‘brown’ followed by ‘green’ ingredients and then finish with a ‘brown’ layer.

The finished bed might be up to two-feet in height, but will quickly shrink down as the decomposition process gets to work. When building the beds, take care not to add any garden material that may have seeds in them as the bed will not generate heat like composting to kill the seeds and they will likely sprout. 

Once the beds are established, they can get topped with a six to eight inch layer of compost either in the fall or the spring. Or, the process can be repeated again – albeit without the cardboard base – by adding layers of compostable materials to the top of the remaining bed in fall to break down and be ready for planting come spring.

When is the best time to make a lasagna bed?

A lasagna garden can be made at any time of the year when you have the materials required. Though fall is regarded as the best season to start the process. This is partly due to the fact that fall can be a time where gardens are tidied and cleared for the winter and it can mean there are lots of leaves, trimmings, and other waste readily available to go into the bed. 

Fall and winter also usually brings with it lots or rain or snow that can keep the layers moist, which in turn can speed up the process of breaking down, and starting the process in fall means the lasagne bed can break down over up to six months and be ready for planting come spring.

What are the best plants for a lasagna garden bed?

The soil as a result from the decomposing materials in the bed will be nutrient-rich and suitable for a wide range of plants. As with any no-dig gardening method, the combination of carbon-rich and nitrogen-rich materials that go into making the bed creates a rich soil full of humus that is full of nutrients and slowly releases these to the plants over an extended period of time. That makes lasagna gardening perfect for growing practically any plant, including any of the ideal no dig garden plants perfectly suited to the growing method.

Allison Vallin Kostovick adds: ‘Once your bed has had a chance to break down and settle more, then you can plant anything you’d like. Once your bed is established, you can plant whatever to your heart’s content. I plant anything and everything in mine, from perennials to vegetables to huge and hulking sunflowers.’

Lasagna beds are ideal if you are looking for flower bed ideas or vegetable garden ideas and want to try something more environmentally friendly in your backyard.

Can you plant immediately in a lasagna garden?

Ideally, best practice is to wait usually between six months and a year before planting into a lasagna garden bed. This gives the bed the time to fully break down and allow the microbes in the decomposing materials to do their thing. The exact time the materials take to break down will depend on the types of materials used and in what ratio. A good sign the beds are ready is when you cannot identify any of the waste materials that went into making the beds. For example, leaves or kitchen waste added do not look like leaves or kitchen scraps and more like soil.

If you cannot wait that long and want to plant immediately into a lasagne garden, then there is a solution available. Top the beds with 10-14 inches of compost and you plant into them right away. Allison Vallin Kostovick says that, if you choose to plant straight away, then it is best to focus on ‘more shallow-rooted veggies like broccoli, kale, lettuce, onions, cabbage, spinach, herbs and annual flowers’. 

A lasagne garden is an environmentally-friendly and hassle-free way to both use up waste materials and get nutrient-rich beds in which to grow any plants you want. While the main hurdle to this sustainable gardening idea could be getting enough material to be able to make the layers, sourcing from friends, neighbors, and family can help bolster your supplies and give you everything you need to create lasagna beds in your backyard.

Source: homesandgardens.com