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  • Roses
    • Types of Roses
    • Easy Roses
    • Climbing Roses
    • Portland's Rose Test Garden
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    • Pruning Roses
    • Rose Sawfly
    • Rose Bloom Balling
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    • Mediterranean Spurge
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    • Montana Clematis
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Amanda's Blog

Amanda's Garden Consulting Company

lasagna gardening/sheet mulching

30/9/2017

4 Comments

 
sheet mulching,lasagna gardening,garden beds,thegardenwebsite,Amanda Jarrett,Amanda's blog
This veggie garden was once lawn, but was quickly transformed into a veggie bed with no digging.
I no longer dig up the lawn to make a new bed, instead I make a raised bed right over top. Not only is this method easy, it results in a nice fertile soil. Removing the grass not only is time consuming and painful, it also takes away all kinds of beneficial microorganisms and organic matter from the soil. 
  1. Use a garden hose laid out on the ground to make an outline then use landscape paint (found at home hardware stores) mark the shape on the grass.
  2. Place ½ inch layer of newspaper or cardboard on top of grass, wet the paper as you go.
  3. Add at least 6 inches of soil combined with manure, compost and/or SeaSoil on top of the paper.
  4. Add three inches of organic mulch.
  5. Either slope the sides gently to the lawn then install lawn edging or place cinder blocks, bricks or wood to enclose the bed.
  6. Water the entire bed well.
  7. If you wish to plant, wait for a week to plant small rooted plants such as winter bedding plants (pansies), perennials, and veggies.If you want to plant deeper rooted plants asap, then increase the soil depth from 6 inches to a foot.
  8. It will take up to a year for the newspaper to decompose, depending on the weather, the location of the bed and the depth of the soil. 
sheet mulching,lasagna gardening,garden beds,thegardenwebsite,Amanda Jarrett,Amanda's blog
Lay a thick layer of overlapping newspapers over the lawn.
sheet mulching,lasagna gardening,garden beds,thegardenwebsite,Amanda Jarrett,Amanda's blog
Cardboard without tape or stickers can also be used.
sheet mulching,lasagna gardening,garden beds,thegardenwebsite,Amanda Jarrett,Amanda's blog
Lay at least 6 inches over top of the wetted newspaper.
sheet mulching,lasagna gardening,garden beds,thegardenwebsite,Amanda Jarrett,Amanda's blog
Lay an organic mulch overtop of the soil. Use fall leaves as they are plentiful now.
sheet mulching,lasagna gardening,garden beds,thegardenwebsite,Amanda Jarrett,Amanda's blog
The mulch layer should be at least 3 inches deep.
4 Comments
penny roberts
3/12/2017 04:26:47 pm

Love this raised bed over the lawn. Will definitely use it. The picture are easy to follow. Job well done. Question? I have an existing flower bed that I want to raise higher as we just installed an new cement path all its edge and put 3 of the smaller landscape tiles stacked on top of each other for the framework of the bed. My problem is this. My plants, roses and climbers are now to low. How can I raise the plantings with out killing my lovely plants? Thinking!!!!
in the spring dig them up with a spade and quickly build up the soil with the mix noted above and stick them in again??? Help

Reply
Amanda link
4/12/2017 02:16:47 pm

Thank you for the great question and I am pleased you will try the lasagna garden method. Most of my gardens have been built this way so I know it does work. Since you want to add more soil to an existing bed, the plants will have to be dug up and placed so their crown (where the stem meets the roots) is at the same level as the soil surface. Do this in spring as soon as the ground can be worked. That means it is not frozen (obviously) and it doesn't drip water when it is squeezed. Once planted and watered, add a 3 inch layer of an organic mulch to reduce your maintenance: weeding and watering and to keep the soil healthy and happy. Good luck and happy gardening.

Reply
penny
5/3/2018 07:45:49 am

Thank you for putting this on your web site.

Reply
Vivien G
10/3/2020 08:31:54 am

Lasagne gardening! Love the name - I've been doing this for years but have never heard the name! I've been getting rid of lawn as the trees get bigger. I use only 2 or 3 sheets of newspaper over the grass and add about 3 " of mulch. This is enough to get rid of grass.

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  • Home
  • About, Services, Contact
  • Ask Amanda
  • Roses
    • Types of Roses
    • Easy Roses
    • Climbing Roses
    • Portland's Rose Test Garden
    • Rose Insects & Diseases
    • Pruning Roses
    • Rose Sawfly
    • Rose Bloom Balling
  • Pruning Basics 101
    • Pruning Tools
    • Winter Pruning
    • Pruning Grapes
    • Pruning Clematis
    • Prune Your Own Garden Registration
  • Lawn Basics
    • Lawn Reno, Seed & Sod
    • Lawn Maintenance Schedule
    • Spring Lawn Care
    • Moss in Lawns
    • Lawn Alternatives
    • Lawn Grub Control
  • Mulch & Mulching
    • Living Mulches - Groundcovers
  • Propagation
    • Growing Seeds Outdoors
    • Growing Seeds Indoors
    • Taking Cuttings
    • Seed & Plant Catalogues
  • How to Garden Topics
    • Fall Garden Chores
    • Planting Know-How
    • Soil Building
    • Watering Tips & Techniques
    • Drought Gardening
    • Sheet Mulching, Lasagna Gardening
    • Cover Crops
    • Composting
    • Compost Tea
    • Houseplant Winter Care
    • Hummingbirds in Winter
    • Winterize Your Garden
    • Ponds in Winter
  • Growing Food
    • Spring Veggie Gardening
    • Crop Rotation, Succession & Companion Planting
    • Harvesting
    • Growing Potatoes
    • Winter Veggie Gardening
    • Taming Tomatoes
    • Speeding up Tomato Harvest
    • Tomato Tips
    • Saving Tomato Seeds
    • Tomato Troubles
  • Plant Pests 1
    • Plant Pests Part 2 - Controlling Insects
    • Garden Inspections
    • Helping Pollinators
    • Dogwood Anthracnose
    • Viburnum Leaf Beetle
    • Dormant Oil/Lime Sulfur
    • Japanese Beetles
    • Peony Blotch/Measles
    • Slugs & Snails
    • Horsetail, the Weed
    • June Beetle
    • Powdery Mildew
    • Soil Solarization
    • Rhododendron Leaf Spot
    • Plant Rusts
    • Black Knot
  • Container Growing
    • Choosing a Container
  • Feeding Plants 101
    • Fertilizers & Ratios
    • Nutritional Deficiencies & Toxicities
    • Organic Plant Food
  • Plant of the Month
    • Spring Flowering Bulbs
    • Colourful Fall Plants
    • Abelia
    • American Sweetgum
    • Ash (Fraxinus) Trees
    • Astilbes
    • Aubretia, Rock Cress
    • Aucuba, Japanese Spotted Laurel
    • Autumn Crocus
    • Bear's Breeches
    • Beautyberry, Callicarpa
    • Black-eyed Susans
    • Bleeding Heart, Lamprocapnos spectabilis
    • Calla Lilies
    • Dahlias
    • Daylily
    • Delphiniums
    • Devil's Walking Stick, Aralia spinosa
    • Dwarf Alberta Spruce
    • Dwarf Burning Bush
    • Evergreen Clematis
    • Fall Asters
    • Flowering Currants
    • Flowering Quince
    • Fritillaria
    • Garden Peonies
    • Garden Phlox
    • Ginkgo biloba
    • Grape-hyacinths
    • Handkerchief or Dove Tree
    • Harry Lauder's Walking Stick
    • Heathers
    • Hellebores, Lenten roses
    • Himalayan Sweet Box
    • Jack-in-the-pulpit, Cobra Lily
    • Japanese Anemones
    • Japanese Forest Grass
    • Japanese Maples
    • Japanese Skimmia
    • Japanese Spurge
    • Laurustinus viburnum
    • Lavenders
    • Lily-of-the-Valley Shrub, Pieris japonica
    • Mediterranean Spurge
    • Mexican Mock Orange
    • Montana Clematis
    • Mountain Ash
    • Oriental Poppies
    • Oriental Lilies
    • Paperbark Maple
    • Pink Dawn Bodnant Viburnum
    • Poinsettias
    • Oregon Grape Holly
    • Ornamental Kale
    • Peruvian Lily, Alstroemeria
    • Phalaenopsis, Moth Orchids
    • Persian Silk Tree
    • Portuguese Laurel
    • Rose of Sharon
    • Sneezeweed, Helenium
    • Snowberry
    • Snowdrops
    • Star Magnolia
    • Strawberry Tree, Pacific Madrone
    • Stewartia
    • Torch Lily, Kniphofia uvaria
    • Tree Peonies
    • Tuberous Begonias
    • Virginia Creeper
    • Weigela
    • Winterhazel, Corylopsis
    • Winter Camellia, C. sasanqua
    • Wintergreen, Gaultheria procumbens
    • Witch Hazel
    • Wood Anemones
    • Yews
  • Garden Tour Blogs
  • Monthly Flower Arrangements
  • Website Index
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