How to make Compost Lasagna

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Hey, lasagna! Who doesn’t like that? But there’s a special ingredient in this lasagna: compost. ¡Delicioso!

Compost lasagna is not something you eat, believe it or not. It’s basically a really easy way to soup up your garden’s soil. It’s called “compost lasagna” because, like lasagna, it’s built up of layers.

Also called “sheet composting”, it’s a great way to reuse your kitchen waste instead of sending it to the landfill. It’s best prepared in fall or winter, so let’s get to making this compost lasagna, shall we?

Compost Lasagna Ingredients

  • Compost – old vegetable waste, used paper towels, etc.
  • Old Newspapers – previously perused papers
  • Gumption – undefinable
  • Garden – spot of ground where you want a garden

Alrighty, once you’ve gathered those ingredients, here’s whatchu gotta do:

Get a Garden

Any space will do. Speaking of a garden, here’s one now.

Layer 1: Newspapers

This layer should be cardboard or a few layers of newspaper. It’ll kill off grass and other plants that’d otherwise compete with your poor, defenseless garden.

Here’s Charlie Stray Cat helping with this step:

Layer 2: Compost

This layer provides lots o’ nutrients for your future plants. It’ll decompose into rich, dark dirt.
Get ready for some hardcore shovelin’ action!

Eventually, it’ll look something like this:

Layer 3: Leaves

Rake you some leaves up. Steal some from your neighbors. Whatever it takes to get those precious, precious leaves. This layer will rot and help hold everything down.

As you can see above, the compost lasagna may stick up a bit. Don’t fret though, by the time spring rolls around, it should’ve rotted nicely into some primo, loamy soil.

That’s it, just three easy steps. If you’ve got this far, wait ’til spring, plant your garden, and watch it take off like Jack’s beanstalk!

If you DO make compost lasagna, let me know how it goes!

Posted in gardening, green living, plants, reusing on Wednesday, December 15th, 2010 at 10:10 PM.

Comments (8)

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Dis taste like shit
1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago
Did you try adding parmesan cheese, Pat?
little lulu's avatar

little lulu · 745 weeks ago

Looks easy, IS easy! Thanks to neighbors who rake their leaves. And adding the cat definitely speeds things up. I like the snowflakes on yr site. Bad taste could be due to cheap newsprint--try the NY Times instead.
1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago
The cat really is the key. As for the snow, weather forecasters are predicting a snowy winter, so it should keep up for awhile!
Boy that is one big compost lasagna, I have built some really big compost piles myself.
1 reply · active 705 weeks ago
Some say it's an art.
Can this be done on top of a raised bed during and/or after the growing season? I don't want a compost bin. A neighbor has a commercial one that always has a snake in it. Yikes!
1 reply · active 666 weeks ago
Yep, I think it'd be fine to do this on a raised bed. I wouldn't do it during a growing season, unless you're careful not to mess too much with the plants.

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