Welcome to another article under our series of ‘Types of gardening’. We are going to take you through another interesting and exciting type of gardening today.
Lasagna gardening – the name itself is catchy and draws our attention. Allow us to tell you that it’s the layering method while cooking a lasagna, that’s the inspiration here. This gardening method, also known as Sheet composting, adds layers of organic material which “cooks” well in due time, to result in a nutrient-dense soil. There is no tilling, or digging involved here in Lasagna gardening.
Read on to find more about Lasagna gardening:
Method:
First you need to outline a specific area in your garden using a rope or twine. The dimensions can be as you require. You can use the method of Lasagna gardening in a raised bed too. Once you decided on the boundaries, you can start placing the layers. Your first layer can be brown materials – shredded dry leaves, cardboard, and newspaper and then next layer can be green materials – garden trimmings, clippings, vegetable waste, coffee grounds from kitchen. Alternate the layers with brown and green, with the brown layers twice as deep as green layers. Brown layer provides the carbon and green gives nitrogen. Once you have built the layers, let it rest and decompose over a few weeks.
Once the layers have decomposed into a loose compost material, you are ready to plant in this nutrient rich soil.
Water:
While preparing your layers, it is important to water the layers. However be careful enough to keep it wet and not rot with too much water. Compost prepared using this method holds water well than regular soil.
Food:
Since your compost has been prepared with good sources of nutrients, the soil will need less fertilizer. You can always add organic fertilizers to give the soil an extra boost. Know more about it here
So cook up a lasagna for your garden and write to us to share your experience.