Wednesday, April 24, 2013

THE ORIGINAL LASAGNA GARDEN

 While I have already written a few posts about my two new lasagna garden beds here in Winnipeg, I actually tried my first lasagna garden at the Ontario cottage last summer.  It was much smaller and I did not research it as thoroughly, meaning I hope the plants come back but I will not be surprised if I have to redo it. 

I rushed it and it may not have enough newspapers, is likely not deep enough and without layers of green and brown material.  But you have to start somewhere; live and learn.                                                                  











The white really pops between the taller Bugloss & trees as backdrop and the slightly smaller greens in front. The Yellow Loosestrife are in great contrast to the more numerous and more subtle blue Bugloss.
(When all of these are done blooming the daylilies take over.)

I wanted to extend the Lakefront Garden back to the Old Broken Tree. What use is that particular strip of grass in one of the sunnier locations I had (city or lake)? I love greens but I wanted more colour.
Step one, lay down newspaper. 
In hindsight probably not as thick as I should have laid it.

Steps 2 and 3, soil and plants. A proper lasagna garden would have alternating layers that would compost and help to break up the grass underneath, here I just have some paper and soil. 
In went Daisies and Chicory from the side of the road . Here they are being stored in water in the paddleboat until they are ready to be planted. Keeping their roots in water is very important, when there are so many to plant it can be a while before they are back in the ground. 
It was still missing some 'oomph' and some height so I brought in the Viper's Bugloss, which due to its long taproot was a poor choice to put into this rather shallow bed, but there you have it, one could almost say the same for the Chicory.
In the short term it looked amazing, then quite a bit of it died back, after all I was transplanting them in full bloom into a too-shallow bed. I got carried away.

I am thinking about finding a place for this trifecta in my new front yard garden: Viper's Bugloss, Chicory and Daisies
Beautiful.

Previous lasagna garden posts

8 comments:

  1. Hi there....How wonderful to live right on this lake. Looks like your bed is doing great. I had to chuckle when I saw the Chickory...several years ago my hubby and I dug some up along the road near our home. The pieces were about a foot tall. Well, they really liked our garden because they got very big and self-seeded so they began to completely take over. We dug them out but to this day they are still coming up.

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    1. I love the Chicory, but they certainly can spread. No problem in my garden yet, but they are all over the side of the road...and yes, it is amazing to be on the lake.

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  2. what a lovely setting to garden in!!!
    I am so happy that I had some time to pop over here today and see what you shared! It is great to finally be able to flaunt some of my own spring blessings and get inspired by some of the best gardens online!
    Thank you so much for joining in on my little party this week! I hope to see you again soon! Have a great weekend!
    Your post today has been shared to the Tootsie Time Facebook page!

    (¯`v´¯)
    `*.¸.*´Glenda/Tootsie
    ¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
    (¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•.

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    1. Glad you were able to stop by Tootsie, and thanks for hosting too!

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  3. This is lovely! I would want to be here all the time! Thanks for sharing, Paula in Idaho

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    1. Paula, you are right, it is the kind of place you never want to leave.

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  4. How wonderful to have a garden with a lake view! What a grand idea it was to plant a lasagna garden where you did -- it looks great and will doubtless make your view even prettier.

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    1. Thanks for the kind words. Some growth is definitely coming up again, it is just too early for me to tell exactly what.

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