Gardening Ideas

Last year was pretty much a failed attempt at a garden.  Weeds were my biggest problem.  I was gone several weeks out of the summer, so the weeds started taking over, and it grew impossible to even try to keep them out.  They were not just little weeds, either!  They were tall grasses, and even some little trees.  My garden spot was on our hill, and hadn’t been tilled before.  The ground wasn’t soft, and was very rocky.  
This year I don’t want to have the trouble with weeds, so I’ve been studying ways to not have problems with weeds, and I think I found my answer!

I’ve been reading about no-till, no-dig gardening; also called lasagna gardening.  The goal is to not have to deal with weeds at all.  Here’s how it works.  You can build raised beds or just start layering on the grass.  You don’t need to remove the grass from the area where you want your garden.
First, lay down three or more layers of wet newspapers or wet cardboard where you want to have your garden.  It would be best if you lay extra cardboard/newspapers around the perimeter where you want the garden, so that the grass and weeds don’t grow into your garden.  Then start layering.  
Some ideas of what to put on the garden are:

• Grass Clippings
• Leaves
• Fruit and Vegetable Scraps
• Coffee Grounds
• Tea leaves and tea bags
• Weeds (if they haven't gone to seed)
• Manure
• Compost
• Seaweed
• Shredded newspaper or junk mail
• Pine needles
• Spent blooms, trimmings from the garden
• Peat moss

You should alternate “brown” layers such as fall leaves, shredded newspaper, peat, and pine needles and “green” such as vegetable scraps, garden trimmings, and grass clippings.  The brown layers should be about twice as thick as the green, but don’t worry about it too much.

You should end up having a 2 foot high pile of composted materials.  This will make a rich, soil to plant in.  The best time to do this is in the fall, so the materials can decompose.  If you do it in the spring, you should incorporate more peat moss and/or topsoil into your layers.  You should also have about 4 inches of moss and soil on the top.  As the layers sit, they will decompose and shrink.  When you’re garden is done for the season, layer mulch on the top.  I think that I will add more materials each fall so that I always have rich soil.  Keep doing this each year, and your garden will just get better!  The rich soil will grow wonderful vegetables/herbs/fruits, but will keep the weeds out... for the most part. :)