Well, last weekend I was finally able to get out and play in the dirt. It was great! I turned over the soil in my original flower bed then it was time to see how my “lasagna garden” worked on my new flower bed. It actually worked pretty well. I have a clear area where I can plant my roses. I even found some worms, which I believe is a sign of healthy soil.
There are a couple things I will learn from for next time. Next time I will use mulched leaves. My husband had sucked up most of the leaves with the lawn 
vacuum (which mulches them) and took them to the leaf mountain at the dump before I thought to snag any. I was able to pull together some whole leaves from the neighbor’s yard (shhh, don’t tell him 
) and from along our back fence. I didn’t crush them or break them apart; I just laid them over the newspaper ‘as is.’ It’s a compost pile, I thought. It shouldn’t make that much of a difference, I thought. Well, it seems Mr. Greenthumb was right (gee, there’s a surprise). Whole leave do not decompose very quickly. When I went to turn over the soil, I had large chunks of leaves. I’ve blended in what I can but I’ll probably rake out the rest.
Another thing I learned is use a Roto Tiller or at least a pointed shovel when blending the “lasagna garden.” I used a flat shovel and had a hard time getting through and under the leaves and decomposing paper. I’d also use more Miloganite. (It helps speed up the decomposition process.) I wasn’t sure how much to use so I might have skimped a little.
Well, off to enjoy the sunshine and play in the dirt! I hope you can do the same.
Mary Gold
