Lasagna Gardening

[Athena]

Greetings All...

Even tho, I am STILL in Iraq... I am heading home in 9 glorious weeks, and have so much planned...

I've been here, perusing seed catalogues, gardening forums, gardening sites, etc.....

and because I dont have time to prep the soil, prep the beds, I was thinking more along the lines of container gardening for this planting season, and get to working on my compost bin and prep the beds and soil for fall planting.

I have so many questions on raised beds and lasagna gardening. For as long as I can remember, I planted direct in the ground. But, now so many prefer rasied beds.. Why??

What are the advantages, disadvantages of gardening on raised beds...and, what do you all think of lasaga gardening? What is it exactly??.. Just a layered way of gardening?

I've lost touch having been in the desert for the last 10 months, so any info to shed light to help me in my planning would be much appreicated.

BTW, Im in zone 8b (sometimes 9 ) in most zone charts... Jacksonville, FL.

Awaiting your thoughts.... and wisdom....

 

[patandchickens]

because I dont have time to prep the soil, prep the beds, I was thinking more along the lines of container gardening for this planting season, and get to working on my compost bin and prep the beds and soil for fall planting.

That makes sense.

I have so many questions on raised beds and lasagna gardening. For as long as I can remember, I planted direct in the ground. But, now so many prefer rasied beds.. Why??

Frankly, I think it is in large part that it is simply trendy. You see pix of it all over in magazines etcetera. And it does look more formal and spiffy, especially if you've spent money on fancy boards etc to edge the beds with. I think some people also assume that if you put more work and structure into it, it must be a more 'serious' and better form of gardening.

There are some genuine large advantages in certain situations, of course. It's just that a lot of people seem to use raised beds when there is no particular advantage and maybe even *dis*advantages prevail.

What are the advantages, disadvantages of gardening on raised beds

ADVANTAGES

Main long-term advantage is drainage. If you are on soggy or frequently flooded-out land, and those problems can't be repaired, raised beds may be the only wy of keeping your plants' roots reliably dry and aerated enough.

Another long-term advantage for people in cold climates is that raised beds warm/dry faster in the spring, allowing earlier planting. (So do containers of course, if you are merely trying to get a jump on the season rather than trying to squeeze all your crops into a very short growing year)

HIGH raised beds are obviously good if you have some physical problem with bending/kneeling.

Also raised beds allow you to sidestep the problem of poor/no soil. Whether this is a real advantage is dependant on situation. If you are on bedrock, or something else that you're just never GONNA plant into no matter what, then obviously raised beds are the way to go OTOH if you are on, say, pure clay subsoil b/c the builder of your development stripped off all the topsoil and sold nearly all of it, then while raised beds are temporarily advantageous in that they let you start 'real' gardening sooner than you would otherwise, I would argue that you're best off trying to build up ALL your soil as much as possible, with the intention of moving away from raised beds when you can.

DISADVANTAGES:

Raised beds use more water, and the more-raised they are, the more water they take. Personally I think it is immoral to use more water than necessary (i.e. not to take all reasonable steps to conserve it) even if you are not often on drought restrictions and don't have to worry about paying a water bill. Obviously opinions differ, but that's what I think anyhow. Also of course the less water you use, the less work

For crops that like cool feet, like peas, the extra warming of the beds becomes a disadvantage later in spring. To some extent this can be offset by lotsa mulch although that has disadvantages too.

The way many people make raised beds seems to involve buying soil. This costs money. Also there are other disadvantages.

The cost of any fancy retaining <whatever> you put around the bed. Of course mildly raised beds don't have to have any sort of logs or boards or rocks or whatnot around them at ALL, but that doesn't seem to be done as often these days. Many people buy this stuff instead of having scavenged materials to work from; it takes energy to put it all in place; and becomes a bit of a haven for the roots of perennial weeds.

Personally I do not use raised beds, almost entirely because of the watering issue. It is important to me to have a garden that requires absolutely minimal water, which means most things don't get watered at all after the first few weeks in the ground, or spot-watering of needy individuals during a drought. Not really compatible with raised beds. Only exception: in a year or two I may get around to putting in a shrub/perennial border on the E property line, which floods quite significantly in winter and spring, and would use a raised berm there to plant on. But it still ain't gettin' watered in summertime so there may be a bit of trial and error involved in finding out what I can get growing there.

...and, what do you all think of lasaga gardening? What is it exactly??.. Just a layered way of gardening?

It's sheet composting that you plant through, basically. I have not done it in a large-scale or systematic way (though I have friends and relatives who have, and been quite happy with the results) but I do sheet-compost between plantings to some extent, and have planted into thick compost mulch with ok results. There is a website out there somewhere I think, and of course the book(s).

Glad to hear you will be back home soon Best wishes,

Pat

 

[vfem]

I chose them for the reason I have terrible clay soil. I have drainage problems here as well. We decided with a bunch of left over free lumber to build 12" deep raised beds to fill with good compost and soil. The other advantage is now I can keep the gopher problem out. I will have to water more then an in the ground garden. It also gets hotter so I can't plant cool weather veggies to late in spring or too early in fall.


Though for having short notice to container garden, it may be worth it for you!

 

[Givemedirt]

Hi Athena, so glad you will be coming home soon. I have become very interested in lasagna gardening too and wanted to share a couple of links with you to some articles about it. I'm in East Tennessee in the Smoky Mountains. My soil is not all that great and lots of rock so thought this would be great for me to try.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/print-article.aspx?id=72842

http://organicgardening.about.com/od/startinganorganicgarden/a/lasagnagarden.htm

Givemedirt

 

[Athena]

Pat.....

Awesome post... could I encourage you to take a holiday in Florida right about the first of April????... lol...

Wish you lived next door,... but then, I might be driving you crazy!

Also, I tried to post a response to an old email, but, it wouldn't go thru... about those seeds to try!

I was thinking of lasagna gardening...mainly to prep the soil.
Soon as I get home, get a few plots ready, and throughtout the year, layer to be ready for next season... or maybe fall.

I so want to try garlic and asparagus this fall!

 

[Athena]

Though for having short notice to container garden, it may be worth it for you!

Vfem.....

I can't wait to get my hands on dirt...lol... and even if it is just containers, then so be it. But, I have plenty of beds that are used to plantings, just that, this past year, while I have been gone, they have pretty much been barren. I will get some things to grow, its just that I wont have the time to start seed pred, bed prep, etc...

If I had really been smart... I would have asked the guy who does my lawn to throw the clippings over the beds... hence, my layered gardening would have already been started. Hindsight, grrrrr!!!!

By the time, I do get home, folks would have already started planting their seedlings outside, so, I will be behind the curve slightly.

I have been all over the internet looking for bush type veggies to grow in containers... so, I will get those going, and get a few on the ground... I will most likely just plant the basic.... just stuff I like to eat. No experimenting this year!!!

 

[Athena]

Hi Athena, so glad you will be coming home soon. I have become very interested in lasagna gardening too and wanted to share a couple of links with you to some articles about it. I'm in East Tennessee in the Smoky Mountains. My soil is not all that great and lots of rock so thought this would be great for me to try.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/print-article.aspx?id=72842

http://organicgardening.about.com/od/startinganorganicgarden/a/lasagnagarden.htm

Givemedirt

Hi Givemedirt.... Thank you for those links.... I will look them over. I love mother earth news anyway!!! Good info on there always.

I have less than 2 months left... I'm hoping my flight leaves here around mid Mar... so, maybe by the end of Mar, I will be home....

I have seeds waiting for me when I get home...lol...

I plan on taking a few months off, get my garden done, and just veg out... pardon the pun.

 

[patandchickens]

Pat.....

Awesome post... could I encourage you to take a holiday in Florida right about the first of April????... lol...

Right around *this* time of year, FL certainly sounds pretty good... LOL

Also, I tried to post a response to an old email, but, it wouldn't go thru... about those seeds to try!

Oh shoot! The tulips. Sorry!!! Is it too late for me to mail them down?

Hey, I bought my S-I-L a book for christmas entitled something like "growing vegetables in self-watering containers". I read it before wrapping it for her and it seemed pretty good, with some fairly specific advice about what methods/varieties work well and how to tailor things to specific veggies. You might see if your bookstore or library have it.

Have fun,

Pat

 

[pixiechic]

Hi Athena,

I'm in north Georgia, where the soil is naturally dense, hard clay. I'm going to try something called No-Dig Gardening this year...I read about it in Mother Earth News:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/2008-06-01/No-Dig-Garden-Beds.aspx

Essentially you use bags of topsoil as mini raised beds (or really big containers). You make a few drainage cuts in the bottom of the bag, flip it over, cut a big rectangular hole in the top, and start planting. In the fall, you dump out the bags and use the soil as the beginnings of next year's beds. I don't know how well it will work, but it seems like a quick, easy, inexpensive way to get started. You could lay them on top of your existing beds, and just mix everything together in the fall.

Hope you get to come home soon!

Greetings All...

Even tho, I am STILL in Iraq... I am heading home in 9 glorious weeks, and have so much planned...

I've been here, perusing seed catalogues, gardening forums, gardening sites, etc.....

and because I dont have time to prep the soil, prep the beds, I was thinking more along the lines of container gardening for this planting season, and get to working on my compost bin and prep the beds and soil for fall planting.