Make a Lasagna Gardening Bed

Lasagna gardening is just as wonderful as it sounds

You choose the "pan" (a raised bed or a piece of ground), add layers of brown and green, then top with a compost cover and let the soil microorganisms do the "cooking"! You'll have to wait longer than an hour for the lasagna bed--it could take up to a year--but when it's ready you can plant right into a bed full of fluffy compost that your seeds and seedlings will find delicious.

Lasagna gardening is a boon for the lazy but patient gardener

In our video Tricia starts a lasagna gardening bed on part of her lawn. It's really a slow compost pile in one regular shaped area. Take a look at our composting video to review the magic of how brown and green waste turn into compost. Lasagna gardening is ideal in raised beds too. Ready to build some raised beds this spring?

We have a video that shows you how to do that with NO TOOLS or just a hammer. All the raised beds in the video can go with you too, if you move.

How to make a lasagna gardening bed

PREPARE THE LASAGNA "PAN"

If you're placing a raised bed on cement or asphalt you can skip these steps.

Cut down vegetation on your lasagna site.

Pull any persistent weeds like bindweed, blackberries or morning glory that might reach up to enjoy the compost in your new bed.

To kill the vegetation, block its access to sunlight with layers of newspapers or cardboard.

ADD THE LASAGNA LAYERS

Raised-beds-on-asphalt gardeners, this is where you join us.

On top of the newspaper or cardboard spread a layer of high nitrogen ("green" lawn cuttings, prunings, vegetable scraps from your kitchen, used coffee grounds, chicken manure, or high nitrogen fertilizer).

Follow that with a layer of high carbon ("brown" leaves, shredded paper, dead vegetation like Tricia's cornstalks).

Spray water on the layers as you go, since the composting process needs moisture as well as nitrogen and carbon. Continue with alternating layers of high nitrogen and high carbon until the bed is 18"-36" deep.

SPREAD THE SPECIAL TOPPING OF COMPOST FABRIC

No cheese allowed, but there is an ideal topping for your lasagna bed. You need to cover the bed because if it gets soaked by rain or snow the composting process will stop. You can spread a tarp, but that doesn't allow good air circulation, and you do want some rain water to keep adding moisture to the pile. What's a gardener to do? Use a compost fabric cover that shields the pile from heavy rain or snow, but permits moisture and air in to keep the compost pile healthy and active. We are delighted to be able to offer you this unusual product. It makes a world of difference to any lasagna garden or other kind of compost pile.

GET PLANTING

That was easy, wasn't it? The simplest way to make rich compost. If you just can't wait a year to get planting in your new bed, add a 3" layer of finished compost on top and plant shallow rooted starts, like lettuces or strawberries. The slight warmth of the lasagna bed slowly "cooking" means you can plant sooner than usual in springtime, too.

Lasagna gardening beds are as easy as can be.