Lasagna Gardening, From The Beginning

Since the early '90's I have been interested in gardening without power tools, chemicals or money. My life changed during this time and it was important to me to be able to make the gardens I had always dreamed of, on my own. During the time I was still working at our country inn I made gardens using what I was to later call Lasagna Gardening. The only time I asked for help was to make straight lines and consistent beds and paths.

My first efforts were successful and looked amazing. I used a level piece of ground with a grass cover. Once the garden was laid out I began collecting the organic material I needed to make beds and paths. The dump provided newspaper and cardboard. I had my own grass clippings and spoiled hay. Local tree trimmers dropped off chipped bark for paths and neighbors gave me access to composted manure and stall bedding. It was fall so the local garden centers were cleaning out bagged garden materials and for fifty cents a bag I cleaned out their inventory.

The piles of material, next to the new garden, were complete so I began the layering process in the new garden. Cardboard covered the paths and that was covered with chipped bark. Thick pads of wet newspaper covered the growing beds and that was covered with layers of all the organic material: grass clippings, peat moss, chipped leaves, humus, compost, potting soil (whatever I had from the garden centers) until I had 18 to 24 inches of material on top of the paper. If the material was dry I gave it a drink of water between layers. When I was finished I topped the layers with wood ashes because I had lots of it.

The location of all of that first activity was in the New York Catskill Mountains. The soil and growing conditions (except the weather) was similar to Crossville, Tennessee where I was born and raised. My memories of my grandparents raising all our vegetables in rock and clay soil inspired me to raise my own vegetables using a different method.      

Tennessee Gardening

Growing in Tennessee is about as good as it gets; good climate, long growing season and, if you practice Lasagna Gardening, easy to create good growing conditions.

I have been working on these gardens for over twelve years and I am amazed at the way they grow without a lot of attention once they are established. Dave and I carved our gardens out of a heavily wooded lot. We dealt with trees that blocked our lake view, created a hazard to our house and too much shade. Over the years we cut back the over growth and planted smaller, more beautiful trees and shrubs.    

I am a wild gardener. I like plants that grow as they were intended not pruned into odd shapes. My favortie term for a plant is "fluffy" not hard pruned. I am at odds with myself when it comes to what makes my gardens both beautiful and as an asset to the property for resale. I know when a buyer looks at our property they will see my "fluffy" gardens as a nightmare of upkeep not the beautiful, blooming, season spanning gardens that I see.

Now I have come to terms with what I have to do in case we have to sell our home. I am neatening up my wild gardens: pruning, edging, relocating and generally making it look just like all the other gardens on the street. I began with an overall assement of the front and side gardens: too many large trees, too many large shrubs and way too many vines and groundcovers.

After the ice storm of 2015 & 2016 there were very large pine trees with broken limbs and shakey tops. I marked theirteen trees to be taken out, including some that were too close to the house. When the trees came down, and stumps ground ou,t we were exposed to the street on the main side. I got busy and made a new garden with new trees and lots of shrubs.

So far I have not touched the front gardens with all the overgrowth but it is in my sights and will be getting around to it soon.