Photo by Conscious Design on Unsplash
Sometimes call lasagna gardening, sheet mulching and is a way of building a new garden using layers of various carbon and nitrogen source materials like leaves, coffee grounds, composted manure and sawdust.
“Building a garden bed this way is a turnkey method for reclaiming land as garden beds to build soil, suppress weeds, and mulch all in one,” says Stephanie Rose, a Vancouver-based permaculture designer and herbalist.
This can be as simple as applying a layer of newspapers or cardboard on top of weedy soil and covering it with about 12 inches of mulch materials that will decompose rapidly, like lawn clippings, leaves, kitchen scraps, seaweed, straw and wood shavings. Lay down sheets of paper and wet each layer as it is set in place. Alternate layers that are high in nitrogen like green garden clippings with layers that are carbon heavy, like bark mulch. Top it off with a cardboard cover to hold in moisture and suppress weeds. Pull back the top layer in spring and start planting.
“You can reclaim that weedy soil in fall to be ready for spring planting. It allows the soil microorganisms to become active and thrive without threat of tilling that will disturb them.”
