Lasagna garden problem

[da_guy2]

So I made myself a lasagna garden last fall with layers of grass clippings, leaves, vegetable scraps, straw, etc. When I first made it, it looked as though it was quite actively composting (get quite warm and more than halved in height). So I covered it with a final layer of straw and left it for the winter to finish off.

Well, spring is here and the garden is finally thawing out, but when I pulled back the top layer of straw the garden is very much not finished composting. I can still see large chunks of all sorts of stuff and there's no way I could plant in it. I'm just wondering what I should do?
Trust that it will be more composed by planting season (a few weeks from now ).
Mix it up to aerate it and start the composting process again (I didn't think you were supposed to do this with a lasagna garden).
Or just add a couple inches of topsoil/compost to plant in and trust that everything will keep composting underneath.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Lindsaylew82]

I imagine you're someplace really cold. Where are you located?

We have a no till system here, in SC. Winter gets pretty cool, but not really freezing. Spring comes, and things really get going. I would expect some weeds from all the grass clippings and veggie scraps, we just layer brown paper from the paint section at Lowe's, then top it off with straw. Well rotted if you can think ahead. (Not like me though.... Ugh...) Every year for almost 5 years we've been layering. (Except last year, we had a babe.)

The first year, the soil was hard, we planted in raw clay with stuff on top. It was awkward. We had to keep adding stuff. Compost, newspaper scraps, coffee, whatever. It went in. Then go covered. Year 2 was much better! The soil had worms, and was softer, richer. Easy to plant in. Grew healthier plants with little aid. We keep adding. Compost, straw, pine straw brown paper, newspaper, chopped leaves, grass clippings. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

It will eventually repay you with biodiversity in your soil, healthy plants, and a virtuously weedless garden!

Just keep going

[Lindsaylew82]

What we had in 2011, how we started:

https://s895.photobucket.com/user/Lindsa ... say%202011

What we had in our last garden (pre-new kid) 2014:

https://s895.photobucket.com/user/Lindsa ... den%202014

Eat we've got going this year! With and almost 5 year old, and a 1 year old! :

https://s895.photobucket.com/user/Lindsa ... den%202016

[rainbowgardener]

Or just add a couple inches of topsoil/compost to plant in and trust that everything will keep composting underneath? Yes!

[imafan26]

Yeah, if you live where there is a freeze the microbes will start the composting procees in the fall and then hibernate once the ground freezes. When the soil warms up they go back to work again. It should compost faster during the summer.
You should not have to mix things up, but it helps if what was put in was chopped up to start with. Bigger chunks will take longer. Keep it moist and as Rainbow said keep adding more finished compost and some composted manure to the top to plant in. Eventually the bottom layers will be good stuff. While it is still unfinished compost you might want to add more blood meal or other nitrogen source since the unfinished composts will compete with the plants for the available nitrogen. It takes about 3 full years for an organic garden to become really efficient and you have to just keep adding the organics every year to keep it going.

[toxcrusadr]

If you are planting seeds, a couple inches of soil would be good. If you're planting tomato or pepper plants, etc. you can dig a shovel-sized hole and fill with soil, and plant the plant in that. The roots will get started in soil and grow out into the lasagna compost.