As many consumers tighten their belts, gardening is once again
gaining popularity. Across the country, victory gardens, once
popular during World War II, are springing up as consumers
look to trim their budgets by growing their own produce. But
did you know that there are ways to cut down your expenses,
even in the garden?
With a little bit of foresight and organization, you can make
your gardening effortless while at the same time eliminating
the need for expensive tools such as tillers, sprinklers and
electric timers. How? Through sheet composting.
More popularly known as Lasagna Gardening (thanks to writer
and gardener Patricia Lanza), sheet composting involves
layering mulch and compost over your garden rather than
tilling the soil. As the layers decompose, they enrich the
soil. Best of all, this is a no-till garden, as plants are
planted directly into the layers of the garden.
To begin the process, mark out the area in which you want your
new bed to sit. Then trample or cut down any vegetation in
that area. Over the top of this, place a layer of either
newspaper or cardboard to act as a barrier against weeds or
grass. Then add a layer of peat moss or manure.
Next come layers of organic materials such as grass clippings,
dead leaves and kitchen scraps. Remember that the
microorganisms that break down these materials need both
nitrogen and carbon-rich materials, so try to add your layers
by alternating between the carbon rich "brown" layers like
leaves and straw and the nitrogen rich "green" layers, which
include grass clippings and kitchen scraps.
Some examples of the materials that you might use include
weeds, grass clippings, leaves, manure, hay, straw, fruit and
vegetable scraps, tea and coffee grounds, manure, compost,
sawdust, peat moss, shredded newspaper or junk mail, pine
needles, bark chips, seaweed and coconut husk.
Materials that should not be put into the sheet compost layers
include weeds that have gone to seed, animal fats or ***.
The best time to sheet compost is in the fall to give the
layers time to decompose and to kill off the vegetation
underneath the paper layer. However, if you start your garden
in the spring, you can still plant it. Simply pull back your
layers of compost and plant the plants right in it.
Cutting your mulch particularly dead leaves or plant stalks
into smaller, more uniform sizes will not only speed up the
decomposition time, but will also make your garden look
better.
Maintaining the sheet-composted garden is also simple. Just
add more layers of mulch as time goes on.
Best of all, sheet composting saves your budget in many ways.
Firstly, you are saved the expenses of purchasing and
maintaining a tiller as well as the cost of gas. Secondly,
your water bill is trimmed because the layers of mulch hold
more water than a tilled earth garden. Thirdly, for those who
pay for trash haul-away, sheet composting reduces the volume
of trash by giving you a place to put your kitchen scraps and
grass clippings. And fourthly, there is no need to purchase
expensive fertilizers, as the sheet composting materials are
already very nutrient rich.
Additionally, many sheet-composting aficionados swear that
produce grown in a sheet composted bed is more abundant and
healthy. In fact, you may have so much produce that you'll be
tempted to either give it away or sell it.
Sheet composting is also an inexpensive way to fill containers
for your container garden. Simply layer the compost directly
in a container the way you would in the ground.
Finally, many of the mulch items used for composting are
either free or can be found for little or no cost. For
example, many supermarkets will give you the produce that they
would ordinarily throw away if you ask them for it. For
another source for compost layers, large chain coffeehouses
like Starbucks often save their coffee grounds for gardeners.
And neighbors are often glad to give you their grass clippings
and leaves if you will simply haul them away. But, beware! If
your neighbors know why you want their grass clippings, they
may want some of your produce in exchange.