Lasagna Gardening: A New Layering System for Bountiful Gardens: No Digging, No Tilling, No Weeding, No Kidding!

I like that this book is divided into sections for the herb gardener, the flower gardner, the veggie gardener and the wild gardener. "Going green" in the yard and garden is easier than ever with the help and ideas in this book. Recommended to me by an area Master gardener I, too, recommend this book as an everyday, keep it growing gardener.

I borrowed this book, from the library, for over a month, unwilling to give it back because it is such a great resource for the novice gardener (me). Though I haven't been able to find the sheets of peat moss that she refers to, I have had success expanding my garden beds improvising a bit. Lots of nuggets of information on plants. Finally just had to buy the book and have referred to it again and again. Now I find great pleasure in finding sources of horse manure, falling leaves and sheets of cardboard,etc., for new beds. Happy gardening!

Colorful and interesting if you are new to the idea. Better books for gardener looking for specifics on the subject. The Newbie will enjoy all the extra " Little of this Little of that" concept of gardening.

This book teaches the basic principle to having a bountiful garden. Start with good dirt! Patricia Lanza shares what she learned while addressing her own gardening needs by discovering how to apply lasagna gardening or sheet composting. This method can be used for creating new gardens or used to enrich the soil during dormant periods of existing gardens. I personally use newspaper as a weed barrier and plan to soon expand on this concept by adding more layers of natural materials for an even better garden next year. Lanza's book provides practical advice and gardening tips. Good reference book for the gardener.

Lasagna Gardening: A New Layering System for Bountiful Gardens: No Digging, No Tilling, No Weeding, No Kidding! and Lasagna Gardening for Small Spaces: A Layering System for Big Results in Small Gardens and Containers (Rodale Organic Gardening Book) Are excellent references for fun and ease of gardening.
I admit that when I first heard about this a few years ago I was skeptical but as I have grown and planted numerous gardens and volunteered and taken organic classes through Seattle Tilth as well as observed organic farming in my family the principles become very easy. I am now an older gardener and do not want to do all the work that is necessary in a chemical use garden. If you "let nature take its course" it will rapidly lead to a bountiful full course meal of veggies and berries with far less work. This year I created raised beds using the Lanza, lasagna or no till method and was able to plant right away. Our tomatoes are amazing and we are going to have a huge harvest. We cannot keep up with all the lettuce that we are growing. The hardest part of the Lasgna Garden method is collecting the materials in bulk. I am using cardboard instead of newspaper to plant right over compacted field grass. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in gardening and wants to avoid all the work of digging and tilling. It is much easier to put down the cardboard or newspaper and create a garden space right over an existing spot. In my case it is over soils that are dead, compacted and have higher levels of arsenic. What I like about this method is that you can create a garden bed at any time and let it sit until you are ready to plant and the worms and the composting will occur without any work. I do use the "Interbay Mulch" system as well...which means if I do not plan on planting right away I cover the beds with burlap and then a thick layer of bark chips which then are removed when you are ready to plant. This creates a very neat look. I do think that creating a lasgna garden works very well if you are planting around existing shrubs and let the materials sit for a season, and for annuals immediately. Patricia gives really good information on her technique, and types of plants and it is a very easy reference for newbie gardeners or people new to this technique. For those of you used to back breaking tilling...it is hard to believe you can have a weed free easy way to garden but it really does work!
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