Garden Progress- May 2008

Although it seems like winter dragged on forever and gardening season started later than it usually does for me, my seeds are finally growing into plants. I've not been sure how my lasagna gardening system (layering newspaper, compost, leaves, and grass on top of the soil ) has been working out, since the lower layers are really wet and the top layers totally dry out. The dryness has caused me a lot of worry, and a lot of time trying to keep everything moist. I should have done my layering in the fall to let the materials break down over winter; then by now I might have moisture-holding humus rather than a dry pile of leaves I'm trying to start seeds in. BUT, it looks like things are going OK, cause you can see that my plants are growing (below are peas, strawberries, lettuce in the cold frame, carrots and onions, and a larger garden shot with some cabbage and broccoli transplants):






And below is the work we've been doing on what I call "Project No Lawn". We are wanting to keep a small patch of lawn to play and picnic on, but we're going to cover about 1/3 or 1/2 of it with shrubs, flowers, ground cover and woodchips. We are tired of watering and mowing, and would rather have more of an experience of wildness--and lower maintenance-- in our yard. We're winging our idea (which is usually how we do things-- without thinking much about it first!) by putting cardboard down on top of the grass to kill it, then dirt on top of the cardboard to hold it down. I want to get some weed block fabric to put down over the dirt to keep the weeds out, then woodchips over that. I guess we'll need some kind of edging to hold it all back too. We'll cut holes through the cardboard and grass to plant shrubs and flowers.



Related posts:
Lasagna Gardening
And So It Begins...
Garden, Not Lawn
From Lawn to Nature's Playground