Saturday, April 3, 2010

Not Breaking Ground on the New Garden

Last evening I got started putting together my new garden bed. It's about 10ft x 20ft, compared to my old bed - an oddly shaped 20 square feet that I stole from an old flower bed. I am so looking forward to this new bed.
I decided not to double-dig this one. I've done it for the past three years with my front garden bed and I am starting to think it is just not a good idea with my soil. The soil gets really fluffy when I dig it, but water runs right through it. Seeds don't germinate well, and after a month or so of rain it's packed down much worse than before.
I've heard a lot of buzz about lasagne gardening/sheet mulching/no-weed gardening, whatever you want to call it, including some stuff on the state extension website, so I've decided to give it a try. (Or at least a version of it.) Witness my cardboard and compost collection - still just a little short on the cardboard.

4 comments:

  1. Cool! Maryland clay is very very difficult to grow stuff. How many layers go in your lasagne? Do you use a sauce too? ;)

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  2. My garbage contributed to that compost! I'm so proud...

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  3. Yes! I am planning to do a couple posts about my compost process soon.

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  4. Hi Matty! To be honest, mine is not a real lasagna garden. You're supposed to do it in lots of coarse layers the previous fall but I never got around to it, so I am skipping right to cardboard and finished compost. I guess the sauce is...water?

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