James Paris - Lasagna Gardening: An Introduction To No-Dig Vegetable Gardening using Sheet Composting

Firstly to clear up any confusion, lasagna Gardening is known by a number of names including Layer Composting, Layer gardening, Sheet Composting or Lasagna Composting. Call it what you like but it all adds up to the same thing.

Easy weed-free, no-till gardening, that uses up as much organic waste as you can provide, that will in turn produce an abundance of crops at very little expense in both materials and labour.

In can be used alongside or in conjunction with other small gardening ideas, such as Raised Bed Gardening or Container Gardening. And it can be used in any area of the garden that gets sufficient sunshine for plants to grow.

Although some would claim it is a new idea, it is in essence a modern twist on an ancient concept, and has in fact been used under different names or descriptions since ancient times.

However the title Lasagna Gardening alongside the others mentioned are indeed the product of the late 19 th century till now.

In essence a Lasagna garden is a layered rubbish heap filled with organic material, either by accident or design. The ancient Scots for instance referred to this as a Midden. A place where all food waste and animal dung would be dumped.

It was most likely realised that some of the waste vegetables took root and thrived in these conditions, and soon the Midden itself was used to grow vegetable crops.

I myself have known of this method since I was a child, as my parents were both crofters in a remote area of Northern Scotland, near Montrose.

Of course things have changed a lot since then, and the concept of growing healthy organic vegetables in a rubbish heap has evolved into the Lasagna Gardening style (amongst others) as we now know it.

A Popular Movement

No-Dig gardening (a generic term for gardening without the need for heavy digging) comes in many forms, from the Lasagna gardening methods described, to growing vegetables in Straw Bales, Raised Beds, and Containers of all shapes and sizes.

The growth in interest can be attributed to many things, including expediency, the drive to produce Organic healthy food, shortage of garden space, etc. Add to this the fact that many celebrity gardeners are now promoting this method of growing vegetables through the media and internet, and you soon have a popular movement of interested gardeners.

To be clear though, this is not fad gardening. It is ideally suited to the age in which we live. It has indeed many advantages over traditional vegetable gardening, and some would argue that it is an example of re-cycling at its best, and most productive.

Are you ready to grow fantastic crops without all the heavy digging and maintenance of a traditional garden? Then read on, to get many reasons why you should perhaps try it for yourself..