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.
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