Forget your broad fork, turn off that tiller, and stop all that weeding! Layered garden beds, are a great option for simplifying gardening and solves some common gardening problems.
GARDEN PEST TIP:
Did you know that if slugs are a problem in your garden, manure will handle that?
No Dig, No Till Garden Method Helps Save Your Back
Digging takes a lot of work. Now we’re not afraid of hard work, and the exercise benefits are good for your body. But gardeners are also a frugal and practical bunch and there’s a whole slew of reasons why one would rather just get on with the planting.
Many people tell us they have back problems that get in the way of gardening. Also, as people age they may not want to spend so much energy digging, hoeing, raking and shoveling dirt. Whether for you it’s any of these reasons, or that you just want to save time, layered garden beds are a good way to garden.
You may have heard of the benefits of straw bale garden method, which we are in our second season implementing. There’s also the the layered garden method, also called lasagna garden because of the layering process.
Called by several names, whatever you call it, the principles and benefits are basically the same, and all save time, money and backaches!
Names for Layered Garden Beds
- Lasagna gardening
- lasagna garden beds
- Layered gardening
- layered garden beds
- Sheet layering gardening
- sheet gardening
- sheet mulching
Lasagna Layering Garden – No Dig, No Till
Hey… we’re all for saving time and labor! If there’s an easier way to get great results for thriving garden, then why not try it?
The no-dig gardening method is a combination of lasagna gardening, where you layer dirt and compost, and raised bed gardening, where you build a structure.
Is There a Difference Between Layered Gardening and Lasagna Gardening?
There’s minimal difference between layered garden beds and the lasagna method as they’re basically interchangeable. Where layered gardening layers non-dirt material (compost, peat moss, leaves, paper) as opposed to just dirt and compost with lasagna gardening, some lasagna beds include these as well.
So the main difference between lasagna garden beds and layered garden beds is often just the name. Just as the lasagna you make in your kitchen will vary from the one we make in ours, so too can the exact ingredients of layered gardening and lasagna gardening vary. The bottom line is you get the same good benefits and results in either approach.
You don’t have to build a raised bed to employ no-dig gardening, but for best results, it’s a good idea to have some sort of structure to contain the garden space. Raised beds also allow you to create mesh barriers to burrowing garden pests.
Pros and Cons of Lasagna Gardening and Layered Garden Beds
There are more benefits with lasagna gardening than disadvantages. Here are some of the pros and cons with the layered gardening method.
PROS:
- Less work
- Saves labor time
- Saves money – less soil, fertilizers and amendments to buy
- No need to pull out most weeds or grass to build your layered garden beds*
- No digging or tilling, so no mattocks or hoes
- Uses natural soil amendments
- Good for areas of poor or obstructed soil, such as underground roots and wires.
- Easier to create critter barriers by starting off with a wire mesh barrier as your first layer.
- Easier on the body
- Good for people with back troubles or other physical limitations
- Layered nutrients last an entire seasons
- Can build it over time as materials become available
- Composting in place – you can make a garden bed space for spreading your natural plant refuse and compost materials, along with paper and build your garden over time by adding to it as you
- Reduces need for compost bins and compost tumbler space since you’re composting in the garden bed
*Remove invasive weeds such as bindweed, blackberries, crabgrass and morning glories before building a layered lasagna garden.
CONS:
- Takes longer to be ready for planting; E.g., make a layered bed in spring to plant in fall
- Less physical exercise, which can be a healthy benefit to gardening, AKA, Garden therapy.
TIP: Prep your lasagna garden in fall to be ready to plant in spring, and prep one on spring to be ready for fall and winter plants.
~GardensAll.comom
Layered Gardening Beds
Making Dirt
Yep, with layered gardening, you are actually creating your own garden soil from scratch. Think about it. When we make compost using organic materials like food scraps, nature scraps like leaves, grass clippings and weeds, and also paper, which is also a product from nature that composts well, we’re making soil.
Instead of tilling the ground and sprinkling amendments into the soil, you’re building it up with materials that will compost into rich soil for growing plants.
GARDEN ALCHEMY:
In making compost, the gardener is an alchemist replicating nature to literally make the ground you walk on (and can grow on).
~GardensAll.com
Sheet Mulching or Sheet Composting
Lasagna gardening, also called sheet composting or sheet mulching, mimics mother nature. This easy gardening method is similar to the permaculture or hugelkultur which replicates how nature layers materials in the woods into humus rich soil.
With layered garden beds, we can speed up the process of composting while building fertile soil in layers. With this approach, plants choose the best layer medium to thrive in, while being nourished from all of them.
“Working with nature, not against it, we can interact with the world in ways beneficial to ourselves and the life around us.”
~Jekka Mcvicar, English organic gardening expert, author, b.2/21/1951
Lasagna Gardening Layers
There’s more than one way to make lasagna. Same thing with the lasagna garden bed.
Most lasagna garden enthusiasts will agree that—just like the lasagna you make in the kitchen—there are many variations on the familiar recipe that yield the same great results. What’s consistent is the layering concept and the basic elements that work.
To learn the specific layering process of the lasagna gardening method, we’ve pulled together several lasagna garden recipes from reputable sources.
What Are the Layered Garden Beds Layers?
Simplest Sheet Mulch Layers for a Lasagna Garden
- BASE: Cardboard or Newspaper, water down
- Browns – leaves, shredded paper
- Greens – vegetable scraps, grass clippings
- Repeat – Browns & Greens to about 3 feet high (this will settle down to ~2′ high)
- Newspaper & Cardboard: Good sources of cardboard include your local grocers. Ask them when they’re typically stocking shelves from big boxes like toilet paper and paper towels and try to visit on on those days and approximate times).
- cover the ground, grass or weeds with cardboard and/or newspaper. This dark moist space will attract earthworms which will loosen the soil and create worm castings. This plus the soil loosened which combine with the dying grass or weeds to decompose into soil.
- Water this to soften and anchor in place.
- Browns: Layer of browns (leaves, shredded paper) on top of the cardboard or newspaper. A good recycling/upcycling use for shredded office paper).
- Greens: Layer of greens (vegetable scraps, grass clippings) on top of the brown layer.
- Repeat Browns & Greens: Layer until your lasagna garden is about about 3-4 feet high.
LAYERED GARDEN BED TIP:
It works best for the “brown” layers of leaf mulch to be about twice as deep as your “green” layers of composting foods, vegetation and grass. Just like many kitchen recipes, garden recipes are approximate. If you work with this most basic foundation and layer browns and greens, you’ve got a lasagna garden bed.
Your end goal is a two-foot tall layered bed. The layers will compost down to approximately 2 feet high in just a few weeks, and your garden is ready to plant![1]https://greenthumbs.cedwvu.org/factsheets/lasagna.php
LAYERED GARDEN BED TIP:
Layer “green” layers to be half the height of “brown” layers.
You’ll find more on no-dig gardens, plus two video clips next.
Digging No-Dig Gardens
You can see how easy it is to build a Lasagna Garden and how quickly it comes together. It’s merely a matter of gathering the raw materials and layering them on top of each other.
We have a sunny spot in the yard and the soil might be workable but there are underground pipes and cables that would be a bear to move and even worse to tangle up in a tiller. That’s why we’re using more surface gardening methods, including lasagna, raised garden beds, straw bale and hugelkultur.
There are all kinds of references and resources on how to build your no-dig no-till low maintenance garden. Our favorite no-till gardening authors are listed below.