It’s been a wild and crazy year in the garden–cool early summer in Albuquerque and now blistering hot. I’ve traveled to the midwest and back and while some of my plants withered while I was gone, I have the fall garden to look forward to. Three season gardening should become the norm rather than remain an exception and one of easiest systems for creating a fall garden while preparing for the spring is with the “lasagna gardening” system made popular by Patricia Lanza. (You can buy her book–Lasagna Gardening– from the Amazon link on the right side of this blog.) Everyone seems to be doing it. And why not? You can create a flourishing garden right over the weeds or compacted soil or even the driveway. And while I prepare a raised bed system for many reasons–more drainage in wetter areas, easier access, easier to protect from frost damage–there is no faster, cheaper way to get started growing food than with a lasagna bed. And here’s a cute little youtube video from Peaceful Meadow Farm to prove it:
My evening at the Wayside Community Gardens workshop in Normandy on the north side of St. Louis, could not have been more perfect. The folks who came to learn and participate on July 14, were excited at the prospect of using sheet mulching to cut down on their mowing while at the same time contributing to building up the fertility in the soil.
Wayside Community Gardens, Normandy, MO
We created one lasagna bed for the Girls, Inc. area which my daughter, Mariella Funk, guides and oversees as part of her responsibilities with Operation Food Search.
Laying out the new bed with newspaper.
Adding the organic layers to the new bed.
Adding the finishing touches of topsoil to the new bed.
We also set up a wading pool garden with two very accomplished young assistants who believed you just can’t be too safe when working in the garden!
My best assistants wearing their protective garden gear!
Yvonne helping the group visualize greens and peas for the fall!
Planting carrots and beets.
Thanks to Dan Linck, Jane Reise and all the Wayside gardeners for all the assistance. A special thanks to my daughter, Mariella Funk, for organizing this opportunity to be “outrageous” in Missouri!
One question that came up from the group was about just what organic materials are best to use in a lasagna or raised bed. The list is virtually endless. (More about that next time.) But here’s an example of ingenuity in utilizing whatever you have available to grow food in or on:
And here’s the list of BEST PLANTING DATES for the remainder of July according to the Moon signs (I’m certain Neil Armstrong would approve!)
July 20-21–great for planting (21st is better than the 20th)
July 24-25–Good for all planting/gardening activities plus planning your Fall garden!
July 26-27–Excellent for planting ornamentals or anything for beauty or color.
July 30-31–Another great time for all planting.
(Source: www.starpathways.com)
Next time: planning your fall garden.
Mohandas K. Gandhi: To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves.
