Anyone Done "Lasagna" Gardening style? Or other 'popular' book selling styles?

[Cherterr]

In my never ending quest of impatience and thriftiness... (waiting on new place horror soil to develop as I keep tilling in goodies)....
I just wondered if anyone here has tried that method or any other 'popular' book selling methods. (I myself and SOLD on Square Foot and done it a long time, but dont' have funds to set it all up at new place yet.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Lasagna composting method you mean? If so, yes! It's a great way to hot compost for fast turnover. The browns in layering is from coop cleanings and greens from the garden plus any fruiting culls. It gets me a good amount of compost pre-winter then set up again in fall that slow composts over winter. Basically it stops come winter, not enough heat generated to keep from freezing, and finishes early spring in time to use in raised beds before planting.

My soil is getting better every year! It was so poor to start with I simply had to go to raised beds to concentrate and not waste what I had and could produce.

 

[lazy gardener]

Yes, I did a couple of lasagna areas last year. One was a 3 x 4 hill planted to squash. It grew very well, and when I harvested the squash, I had to weigh it because I couldn't believe the production from that one hill... 185# combined total for Red Kuri and Butter Cup. The largest buttercup was 22.5#. They were grown from seed saved from squash bought from a neighbor.

 

[donrae]

If you like square foot, you should do that, combined with sheet composting. You don't need a lot of $ for either one. Recycled/reclaimed materials work great for edging, or don't have edging at all and just heap things high. I've done my own bastardized version of each and liked them for specific areas or crops.

I personally had more problems with sheet composting, but I was also using fresh horse manure and had all the weed issues associated with that. I'm now using my old feed sacks as a bottom layer on my small area gardens to help control weeds.

 

[lazy gardener]

Rachel, you could be my brain clone.

 

[donrae]

I'll take that as a compliment

Just kidding, of course it is....

I always take books, methods, techniques, recipes, etc as a starting point. I may try things the way someone else says once, just to get a feel for how it's supposed to work, but from there on out, it's all about how it works for me. This applies to pretty much everything in my life, I'm not a believer in one size fits all!

Oh, and I'm cheap---excuse me, frugal. I don't have tons of $ to spend, so we use a lot of recycled materials. My honey's always coming home with loads of free pallets--they're the bomb for pretty much everything!.

 

[lazy gardener]

Wish my hubby would play my game... (recycle/repurpose) He gets embarrassed when I get out of the truck at the dump to go shopping!

 

[Cherterr]

In a freak move of gardening and thinking... I have actually decided to do something DARING this year:
ROW garden!!! I know, right?? lol

It just looked soooo purdy after I went thru w/roto tiller to mix in the rest of the fall's straw, and pooh.. I just thought I'd try it for a change.

I AM happy about the looks of the soil, after a year of 'feeding it'! Maybe I'll be able to grow something after all!

Is anyone else SICK OF THIS COLD CRAPPY Weather keeping us out of the garden? (and I'm in TEXAS!! - I sware it's the geoengineering!)