Easy gardening for any space

It's that time of year when I recall planting seeds and putting them out in our greenhouse windows as kids.  I remembering riding with my Dad to pick up these three, big, second-hand greenhouse windows.  He installed them in a row across the front of our house in the room that was primarily our family dining room.  It was practical genius at work!  The three big windows had three or four adjustable metal shelves and our entire garden could be started in late February while there was still a thick blanket of snow on the ground.  The southerly exposure provided tons of warm sunlight and on cold nights we would simply slide the trays of seedlings out and line the dining room floor.


I don't have space for the big gardens we had as kids, nor do I have space or appropriate light to start seeds inside.  I buy seedlings and starters from local greenhouses...and thanks to a friend, I have a method for developing thriving garden spaces wherever I can tuck them in around our property.  The best part, I never have to turn over a single inch of soil, pick rocks, or borrow a rototiller.  It's called "lasagna gardening" a phrase and method coined by Patricia Lanza.  You could skip this post (I hope you won't) and go straight to her site.  Better yet, keep reading and then go check out her site after!  Okay, I'll admit I've never read her book "Lasagna Gardening," cover to cover, but with great local mentors, and the internet I've done just fine working on my own lasagna techniques!

Lasagna garden cross section 

The basic premise is (as the the name suggests) layering, layering, layering.  I'll use my first lasagna garden as an example to walk you through the steps.  My first garden using the technique is an herb and shade perennial bed at the foot of our stairs.  The space is in the shadow of the building for much of the day.  I collected up some large rocks from our the property as well discarded hemlock boards and created a raised bed.  It's worth noting this area sits on 4' of coarse gravel.  Inside the bed I placed a layer of newspaper and cardboard including cereal boxes, and shipping boxes all cut apart and laid flat.  I saturated this layer with water from the hose.  The following layers included grass clippings, the previous year's leaves, shredded paper, hay remnants raked up from around our horse barn, composted horse manure, and dirt from our compost pile.  (See the cross section illustration from finegardening.com )  Then I literally started planting!  I transplanted mint, chives, sedum, and ferns and nestled them into the damp, warm layers of organic material.

The first year when things were first starting to establish I also put my patio cherry tomato pot and planted some annuals in and about to fill things in.  This is what it looked like that first summer.  Two years later that garden is so full and lush.  The mint spills over onto the steps, the sedum has crawled up and over the hemlock, the ferns nestle up against the railing, the hens and chickens that I tucked into the rock crevices have spread and multiplied.  The layers have composted and the soil is amazing!  I'll have to post more pictures this summer!

The beauty of the lasagna garden is that you can keep adding your organic layers, there is no tilling, working of the native ground, or even weeding!  This year we're building raised beds for vegetables...right on top of the rocky slope at the top of our driveway. 

I bet you're now thinking about a little space that you have where you could experiment with lasagna gardening!  Whether you are planting long rows of raised beds, or tucking in a little herb bed by your doorstep...you can do it!  You'll be recycling, reusing, repurposing, composting, and growing some of your own food!

Share you ideas, pictures, thoughts, and stories about gardening...it's the perfect time of year to get inspired!

I'll start:  I'm going to try hale bale gardening this year, too!  Check this out: