This week on Down the Garden Path, Joanne Shaw explores the benefits and steps to creating a no-till lasagna garden.

What is lasagna no-till gardening?

• Often called "lasagna" gardening because of the layering involved or no-till gardening because there is no need to dig up and disturb the existing organic matter.

Reasons to consider a lasagna no-till garden:

• You want to create a new or expanded garden area in your yard
• You're considering planting a vegetable or herb garden next year

When's the best time?

• October/ November is the best time to do it and in the least back-breaking and simplest way.

Joanne's experience:

• Joanne did this with her garden in October 2016.
• Check out the Lasagna Gardening section of Joanne's book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden. You'll find pictures of Joanne's garden in 2016 and how she tackled creating a new garden area that she planted in the following June of 2017. Or listen to her talk about it on a previous show.
• Here are some of the basics and her recommendations eight years later.
  • Joanne lives on a corner lot with no sidewalks: her garden is in the front yard, to the right of the front door from the walkway to the curb and wraps around the corner and ends at the driveway.
  • In 2016, she had a garden in the centre of that space surrounded by approximately 3-4 feet of grass (it was actually barren, dry soil that was hard to water because of the slight slope).
  • It received A LOT of sun. She didn't have time to baby a garden and wasn't going to baby her lawn.
  • She liked the idea of having more garden and less lawn and was looking for a simple way to make this happen.
  • Her research led her to lasagna gardening where you cover your lawn with layers of material to not only kill your lawn but create a "new" garden or new improved garden area to plant in the following spring.
  • Starting a new garden by digging up an existing lawn or maybe an old one that you inherited that needs some major refreshing seems straightforward. But not only is it hard work, it is often hard for most people to dispose of the old sod, or poor garden material.
• The steps:
  • That is the beauty of this method. It starts with cardboard! Lots of cardboard, more than you think you will need because you want to make sure the boxes overlap.
  • Make sure you remove the packing tape and don't use any coated cardboard that may be found at the grocery store/or restaurants.
  • Cover the cardboard with a quality organic material like manure or mushroom compost, at least to 2-3 inches, making sure the cardboard is completely covered.
  • Cover everything once again with an organic mulch, again 2 to 3 inches. Don't worry if this seems high, as everything starts to break down it will "thin" out. Joanne's favourite: composted pine mulch (no dyed mulches please).
  • This is the perfect time of year to do this and as the fall rain and winter snow (hopefully) cover the new garden, it will help everything to break down, especially the cardboard.
  • Once May or June arrives, you should be able to start planting. It is as easy as that!
  • This is great for areas large or small, but also ideal for challenging boulevards, where the grass doesn't grow well or you're tired of cutting it.

Resources Mentioned in the Show:

Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden Lasagna Gardening

Have a topic you'd like Joanne to discuss?

Email your questions and comments to [email protected], or connect with me on my website: down2earth.ca

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Down the Garden Path Podcast

On Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designer Joanne Shaw discusses down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes. As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. She does her best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible. 

In Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and fellow landscape designer Matthew Dressing distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. Get your copy today on Amazon.

Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe! You can now catch the podcast on YouTube.