Stormy Weather

We had some pretty heavy rain and hail this weekend. I think we may need to replant some of our garden, because the smaller seeds can wash down too deep into the Lasagna. We want to be sure we have plants growing,  even if we end up having to pull or move some good plants later.

By the way I have started a new Facebook Community called Beyond Organic Nebraska. Come join the community and share any ideas or what you are doing to promote health-building foods.
here is the link: http://www.facebook.com/BeyondOrganicNebraska

That is all  for now!
Kurt

We started planting!

Saturday we started planting! Caleb and I got one last load of compost and after that we were ready to plant. It was super easy to plant in the soft layers. The lasagna gardening experience has been great so far.

Angie did some reading from Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew and mapped out our boxes for each group of plants. We uses the handle of the hoe to make a grid to space things accordingly. Here Hannah and Angie are planting peas.

It is very interesting to see what each plant seed looks like. Some, like carrot seeds are really tiny, others are bigger than you would expect. Here are our pea seeds.

 Natalie is planting potatoes, we dug a hole clear down to the bottom, and dropped in the potato.

 Levi was a big helper!

Almost ready for planting!

This weekend we added two more layers: crushed leaves(thank you Collins family), and compost from the City of Lincoln. We need to get one more load of compost, and we will be ready for planting!

Jackson enjoyed the leaves.

Our mower has a mulching blade on it, so we used it to chop up our leaves.

 

The compost from the City of Lincoln was great. 

Hannah is a hard worker, she is really into it.

We ran out of compost before we could get the last two boxes filled, so Ill get another load next weekend.

Where to begin?

We purchased our seeds from Gurneys.
Everyone got something that they wanted.

Lasagna Gardening is a method of growing plants by building layers of organic materials on a piece of ground, and then planting the garden in the layers. Patricia Lanza calls it "Lasagna" gardening because the process reminds her of making lasagna.


Why is this method appealing? Lets see...

• no digging, or tilling.
• Less weeds, and when they do pop up they pull out with ease.
• A great environment for plants to grow
• No need for chemicals and special fertilizers

Sounds great, right? Well, we are going to give it our best shot. I am confident that we will have a great time no matter how successful we are.
So, getting started.
First, a spot(or spots) need to be selected. Consider the amount of sun that will shine on the location, along with water drainage. It doesn't matter really if there is grass or weeds or just dirt on your location(more on that later).

Here is our spot. The rock will be removed.

We picked a level place behind our house that is near our outdoor hydrant. We plan on building 4 boxes out of 2X6 or 2X8 lumber(no floor in the boxes) to fill up with our lasagna. Hannah, Natalie and Caleb each wanted their own box, and the rest of us get a box. They are going to be 4 feet wide for ease of access without actually stepping on the garden. Length will be determined when we get the size of our plot finalized.

So what is the Lasagna made of? I'm glad you asked.

mmmm coffee! Thanks to The Blend we are going to have
plenty of coffee grounds for out compost.

The first layer should be either cardboard, or a thick layer of wet newspaper. This is the boundary layer that doesn't allow weeds or grass to grow. On top of that can be layers of just about any organic material. Patricia Lanza says to develop a "Mulch" mentality. We have found that it is easy to find great mulch materials for free, or very little. We are building our own compost using household waste, grass clippings(from our acreage), sawdust(free from local lumber yards), coffee grounds(free from The Blend in Lincoln) and horse manure(free from a local stable). It is not a good idea to use anything with animal fat in it because it can smell and draw animals to your pile. Don't use dog and cat waste either because it can carry disease.
We plan on using straw, peat moss and leaves as well.

Here is a list of things Patricia Lanza(on page 9 of Lasagna Gardening) suggests that will make great mulch:

• animal manures
• compost
• corn cobs
• grass clippings
• hay
• leaves (chopped)
• peat moss
• salt hay
• sawdust
• seaweed/kelp
• stalks (chopped)
• straw
• wood ashes

Next up: preparing our  location.