Making lasagna in the garden

[gixxerific]

Well I had a rain day today and on the way home I picked up 3 truckloads of grass, leaves etc for the garden (well I did have to go back out to get the 3 loads but you know what I mean LOL).

When making lasagna first you must gather all the ingredients.
[img]https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/gixxerific/Gardening/IMG_0425.jpg[/img]

Than you must get your cooking device ready by greasing it with a gentle layer of compost.
[img]https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/gixxerific/Gardening/IMG_0427.jpg[/img]

Next step is to add a layer of shredded paper.
[img]https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/gixxerific/Gardening/IMG_0429.jpg[/img]

A generous layer of leaves is next on list. A helper to check for quality is always helpful. I have Lucy a fine chef, she seems pleased so far.
[img]https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/gixxerific/Gardening/IMG_0431.jpg[/img]

Next as an added surprise a light layer of pine needles. Lucy is testing the brew.
[img]https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/gixxerific/Gardening/IMG_0432.jpg[/img]

Finally a good layer of grass to top it off.
[img]https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/gixxerific/Gardening/IMG_0433.jpg[/img]

Now let this simmer for a few weeks and mix it up or let it go and stay inside where it is warm. I will be adding a bit more compost and grass as it becomes available. Let this cook till spring and you are ready to serve.

Bon Appetit

[DeborahL]

Yum ! Cute chef too !

[stella1751]

Pretty nifty, Gix. I should try this!

[applestar]

Gixx, you are as energetic as ever!
Looking great!
...so will you be putting tomatoes in the lasagna next spring? Maybe lots of garlic this fall?

[GardenRN]

Did anyone happen to see the episode of dirty jobs where Mike went to the worm farms? They just took a bunch of shredded paper and tilled it into the dirt to feed the worms, just like you're doing Gix And they were just farming the worms for the castings. It was a good episode if anyone gets the chance to go back and watch it. Looks like you're doing a good job Gix, keep it up!

[OROZCONLECHE]

That is Crazy, and The tree looks nice, also I would love to have all the ingredients well maybe easy to get as all are in ones homes.

[gixxerific]

Apple: Yes that garlic is already in the other garden (same treatment), the tomatoes will be added later in the spring after simmering some more.

The beds look great I mixed it up a bit with a rake/fork. Gonna be real nice next year.

Can't wait, I have been working these garden from nothing hard for about 4 years now.

[gixxerific]

[img]https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/gixxerific/DSC05478.jpg[/img]
Sleeping garlic:
[img]https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/gixxerific/DSC05479.jpg[/img]

[jal_ut]

Thumbs up!

[dustyrivergardens]

Your garden looks awesome I bet you will have a great garden you have put the effort in. looks great.

[jal_ut]

gix, do you have worms there in your garden naturally? Seems worms would do very well with all that organic matter. Here we have some earth worms, and also night crawlers. The night crawlers were not always present in this area. Fishermen imported them and they did well once established. I could not believe my eyes the first time I saw a night crawler. They were huge compared to the worms I used to dig to take fishing. I have night crawlers on my lot now. Their castings make bumps in the lawn, but I am sure the castings are good for the plants.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Worm grunting. I think maybe even Cynthia would get a kick out of this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ILoGcSxCAY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0gqcYi2qDY

Eric

[gixxerific]

gix, do you have worms there in your garden naturally? Seems worms would do very well with all that organic matter. Here we have some earth worms, and also night crawlers. The night crawlers were not always present in this area. Fishermen imported them and they did well once established. I could not believe my eyes the first time I saw a night crawler. They were huge compared to the worms I used to dig to take fishing. I have night crawlers on my lot now. Their castings make bumps in the lawn, but I am sure the castings are good for the plants.

Worms? Yes. I could almost not believe the amount of worms in there. It is incredible, just pick a spot dig and you will find a bunch. I found a huge one last year might have been a night crawler this thing was as big as my pinky around and very long. I thought it was a little snake at first.

[john gault]

I've gotten tons of bags of leaves and moved my compost pile to the garden for the winter. Wish I would have taken pics at various stages like the op, but this is all I got:

Former compost pile (just mulched over for the winter)[img]https://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m484/76gunner/Miscellaneous%20Yard%20Pics/035.jpg[/img]

I've sinced removed the plastic bags and covered with leaves (ill-conceived plan ). The stalks are from sunflower plants I don't remove roots any longer and I leave them for the birds/lizards to perch on and if they get in the way I just cut them down leaving the roots in the ground for nutrients).

[img]https://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m484/76gunner/Miscellaneous%20Yard%20Pics/010-1.jpg[/img]

Spot for my banana plant, I cut them all down when I harvested the bananas. But it's nice out so a few are already growing back.
[img]https://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m484/76gunner/Miscellaneous%20Yard%20Pics/007-1.jpg[/img]

Hibiscus in the corner with Myer Lemon to the left and some containerized tomatoes and other pollinator-attracting plants

[img]https://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m484/76gunner/Miscellaneous%20Yard%20Pics/005.jpg[/img]

[gixxerific]

Somone on another froum wanted to see this pictorial so I dug through about 150 pages in 4 differant topic sections so after all that I couldn't help but bump this.

This was in Oct 2011

[rainbowgardener]

So how did things do in your lasagna garden with all the tons of organic matter worked in to it?

[gixxerific]

I would say pretty well I will be doing this again this year if possible. I happened to lucked out with the rain day falling on the same day everyone and their mother put out leaves and grass.

I put roughly equal amount of compost in both gardens. but as far as the other ingrediants I put probably 2/3 of the total leaf, grass into the new garden, with it being smaller sq ft wise that equates to even more per sq ft. I was trying to jumpstart the newer one. Both gardens are doing great but there are some tomatoes for exmple that are doing as good or better than their counterparts in the older garden.

Basically it worked great. I always do this in my garden but this year I had much more work with.

[gixxerific]

its starting again
[img]https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/gixxerific/DSC06078.jpg[/img]

[GardenRN]

I see walmart and home depot bags.....do they give away their shredded paper? Or what's the deal? I'd love to have the shredded paper to add but I have no idea where to come up with that much.

[gixxerific]

I see walmart and home depot bags.....do they give away their shredded paper? Or what's the deal? I'd love to have the shredded paper to add but I have no idea where to come up with that much.

That's all grass, the shreded paper comes from my basement.

[rainbowgardener]

I see walmart and home depot bags.....do they give away their shredded paper? Or what's the deal? I'd love to have the shredded paper to add but I have no idea where to come up with that much.

Those are yard waste bags. People aren't allowed to put yard waste (like fall leaves etc) just in their regular trash anymore. Hopefully that means that the yard wastes are actually composted. I collect at least a dozen of those bags full of leaves each fall to use in my compost pile and as mulch.

[gixxerific]

GardenRN I should have said I get my shredded paper from my basmenent using a office papper shredder. You can pick them up fairly cheaply. But don't go too cheap make sure it has some ummmmph!! for those thicker shreds. I asked for it for Chrsitmas one year mainly for composting reasons. I shred all my bills (I should do it before I pay them) and any other paper that comes around. I save all that in those lawn bags, usualy ones I have confiscated from others. See everything get reused, recycled. I had 4 or 5 bags last year fool of paper. Every now and than I add sdreds to the compost I don't have many big trees so my carbon content is low so the paper helps with that.

[applestar]

Those are yard waste bags. People aren't allowed to put yard waste (like fall leaves etc) just in their regular trash anymore.

That's great! So easy to tell what to pick up.
My municipality is WAY behind in adopting ideas like that.

Back yard chickens and yard waste bags!

[treehopper]

You got to be careful when you pick up those yard waste bags, I always check for large dogs in the yard..."land mines"