At the end of summer, I plan to try the lasagna garden/sheet composting method to prepare my beds for spring. I have done much research and understand the concept, but I have one question.
For the "green layer"where you can use coffee grounds, vegetable peels, egg shells, etc., how does this work? Should I throw these things on as I acquire them? Or put them in a pile somewhere until I have enough to make a full layer?
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
Either way would probably work pretty well.vleighl wrote:...For the "green layer"where you can use coffee grounds, vegetable peels, egg shells, etc., how does this work? Should I throw these things on as I acquire them? Or put them in a pile somewhere until I have enough to make a full layer?...
I would most likely opt for "adding as acquired" if possible, because some of the nitrogen and nutrients from the Greens may be lost if they are held at a separate location.
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!potatoes!
- Greener Thumb
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you want the greens in lower layers, not sure how much sense it'll make to try to work it in after. I think you'll want to collect the greens somewhere, then add all at once. I suppose it would work best if you could receive a big pile of greens from somewhere all at one time, or in layer-sized batches.
I don't know what facilities are available to you, but space can be a problem.
You may try, a small plastic container in the kitchen to collect all the kitchen scraps starting a couple months ahead of building the bed.
Line the container with bread bags & every 4 days tie a knot in the bag & deposit into a trash can with a tight lid. Decomp will take place, but in a contained space with no smell to escape. This will go arobic, but again no smell(contained) and no loss of the good stuff.
Begin with a trench(set dirt aside).
1st a thin layer of browns on the bottom of the bed.
Take the bags, that now contain moosh...This is the smelly part...cut with knife.
(ooh, that's nasty)..and dump on top of browns.
Quickly, Cover the moosh with a brown layer.
Then another brown layer, a Heavy Layer of paper & cardboard works well. (brown on brown)
Get as much coffee grounds as possible & place on top of the double brown layer.
Then cover again with browns, another heavy layer.
I've built beds like this stacked as high as 3 feet.
Then place the dirt on top. & spread a top crop(I like winter rye).
People won't smell anything if done right.
If you develop a critter problem. Cover with plywood, held down with blocks & bricks for a month. The odor that animals detect will be gone, and you can remove the plywood.
By spring there will be an amazing bed filled with deep rich soil & more nutrients than the plants can absorb.
You may try, a small plastic container in the kitchen to collect all the kitchen scraps starting a couple months ahead of building the bed.
Line the container with bread bags & every 4 days tie a knot in the bag & deposit into a trash can with a tight lid. Decomp will take place, but in a contained space with no smell to escape. This will go arobic, but again no smell(contained) and no loss of the good stuff.
Begin with a trench(set dirt aside).
1st a thin layer of browns on the bottom of the bed.
Take the bags, that now contain moosh...This is the smelly part...cut with knife.
(ooh, that's nasty)..and dump on top of browns.Quickly, Cover the moosh with a brown layer.
Then another brown layer, a Heavy Layer of paper & cardboard works well. (brown on brown)
Get as much coffee grounds as possible & place on top of the double brown layer.
Then cover again with browns, another heavy layer.
I've built beds like this stacked as high as 3 feet.
Then place the dirt on top. & spread a top crop(I like winter rye).
People won't smell anything if done right.
If you develop a critter problem. Cover with plywood, held down with blocks & bricks for a month. The odor that animals detect will be gone, and you can remove the plywood.
By spring there will be an amazing bed filled with deep rich soil & more nutrients than the plants can absorb.
Could you collect the kitchen scraps and then freeze them ahead of time?
hopefully when you are ready to build the layers you will have enough to put the frozen stuff in the ground. No smell and freezing should help them breakdown faster.
This is pretty much what I do when I have too much worm food. Would it work for the garden too?
hopefully when you are ready to build the layers you will have enough to put the frozen stuff in the ground. No smell and freezing should help them breakdown faster.
This is pretty much what I do when I have too much worm food. Would it work for the garden too?
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ElizabethB
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Remember, there are also a lot of leaves in the fall for browns and greens. You can use fresh trimmings as greens and old leaves as brown. You could also have some green manure growing somewhere that you can toss in like crop residues, beans, buckwheat, even grass clippings (no weed seeds or pesticides).