Lasagna Gardening

I read the book Lasagna Gardening by Patricia Lanza right after it first came out years ago. I used that method for my first couple of small gardens and did really well. Then I moved more into biodynamics looking for more production and bigger gardens. The reason that I abandoned this method as my gardens grew was that it was hard to find enough "lasagna" materials for a very large garden without spending money and.. well.. back then we didn't have any to spend. So all of our materials had to be free and found. However, we are shrinking in size again and I need to help fill all of these deep raised beds. I have a large round bale of hay that is old and needs to be gotten rid of, I have an uncomposted pile of horse/goat/chicken manure, I have a copious amount of weeds being cleaned up from a very overgrown yard, and now I have a ton of leaves falling daily into the yard. Sounds like lasagna material to me. With the lasagna method you build a compost pile, layering green and brown material. Ideally, you would then let it compost. Then you would plant it and watch your garden grow. However, in the book Patricia was in a rush one year and so she built her "lasagna" then planted directly on top before it had a chance to fully compost. She had the best garden ever that year according to her book. I am using relatively fresh horse and chicken manure which tends to compost "hot" and can burn plants. I have a few months before I plan on planting. I also am putting that material further down in the lasagna layering so as not to burn any plants from the heat produced. So, once I layer my lasagna layers then I will have filled most of the space within my beds and will be able to scrounge up enough dirt (from the French drains around the barn) to layer on top. Then I should have some really rich material from which to watch my garden grow! Let's hope it works. Blessings from the farm, Kat