lasagna type beds

HEY JimZ, Lasagna gardening has been around a long time, a lady here in TN., (Crossville) where she was born and raised. Her name is Pat Lanza and I have her book. I started out using the square foot garden methods but was to much watering for me even though it is a great way to grow veggies. So I kinda incorporated squared foot gardening with Lasagna gardening and with a 3rd method "wide row" gardening. The way I do it I use all 3 in one garden plan. Lasagna gardening is building a raised bed.where I live the soil is not much so I grow on top of it. I start out with whatever size bed I want some of mine are 50 ft long x 4 ft wide, some 4ft x 24' some 4ft x 12', then you can either build using 2x6 or 2x8 boards to form a frame, then I put down 5-8 layers of newspaper (no ad slicks) or you can use cardboard. that is your first layer and goes down over the grass (no digging) then wet down really good, then you just layer down different mulch materials, 2"-4" layers..you want to use 75% more browns than greens (greens =nitrogen) I start off with mulched leaves 3 inches, then a 1 " layer grass clippings, then shredded straw about 4 inches, then rotted sawdust, and then a handfull if agriculture lime then my homemade compost, eggshells you can use whatever you have or can scroung up..just be sure to layer it..its not written in stone, I use no commercial fertilizer, but its nothing wrong with using it, it just that I like mostly organic.. to learn more about lasagna gardening you can type that in search and find out more about it. Its the only way I will ever garden again
Good luck gardening
Errol

You right about that JimZ, potting and garden soil can get expensive..since you container garden, you can use the same mulches, compost that I do in the larger beds..That how I did the 1/2 barrels with the watermelons. And I mulch them heavy with straw. Something else that works for me is making my own garden/potting mix, which works for me in beds or containers is "rotten" and I mean really rotten, black sawdust. there is a country sawmill close to me and I get 3-4 year old rotten sawdust all my 5x8 trailer with 2 ft high sides will hold for $25.00, then there is a place close by that I get creek sand, and lime by the trailer load...the way to mix this is 70% rotten sawdust, 30% sand, and a handful of agriculture lime. mix this really well, and you have a garden soil/potting mix that will grow anything you want. I will also add a couple shovel fulls of grass clippings for nitrogen. thats it..if you can find a little rotten sawdust and a little creek/river sand try it. I bet you will like it!
good gardening my friend
Errol