What does the farmers wife want for her birthday?  Well, raised veggie beds of course!  And my awesome husband delivered…and even helped me put together 2 of the 3!  Next spring I’m planning on planting medicinal herbs in one, tea herbs in the second one and carrots and sweet potatoes and onions in the other one.  Right now we are lasagna composting in them, and they should be nice and ready in the spring.

The kids were lots of help!  They love to garden.

   After we had our blocks stacked we layered the bottom of our floor with cardboard, then potting soil, our dry corn stalks, peat moss, rabbit manure and more potting soil.  I cleaned out the chicken coop and threw it in, wood shavings and all and proceeded to layer.

All summer I threw in the by-products of our canning.  Any raw veggie trimmings will do.  Carrot and potato peelings are great!  All the hulls for our purple hull peas and butterbeans went in as well.

Right now the beds are about half full.  I am planning on cleaning out the chicken coop and under the rabbit pens, so I’ll throw that in with a bag or two of potting mix and cover it all with a bale or two of hay.  The hay will help with compaction from rain.  This will keep our dirt nice and fluffy

Another Tip:  Keep it moist.  Composting requires heat and moisture.  Every time I walk by with the water hose I give them a little drenching. You should also allow your Lasagna compost to “cook” 4 to 6 months before planting in it (Especially when using horse or chicken manure).

And that’s it!  You can lasagna garden anywhere, It doesn’t have to be in raised beds.  Its not a real science, you are just stacking compostable materials like you would stack a lasagna casserole.