Vegetables Gardening - Growing Organic Vegetables

Love the post Aimee, along with a healthy dose of garden envy a half acre I wish...
I know what you mean by northern climes I live even further north than that and have been in the middle of a snow storm for the last couple of days. I lasagna in my backyard and love the way it works. I will be looking at a hoop house this year for half of the beds in order to try and wheedle a way around this climate thing.
I also have to hope for a better season this year and a little more days off so that I can get my earth oven done it is under about 3 feet of snow and a tarp, half done the base can't wait for pizza by June/July. The neighbors are all asking about global buckets which I did a few demonstrations for last year and I am collecting buckets fast and furious for all the tomatoes that are now about 20" high in the window.
Last year I put a lasagna garden in the front yard for a community garden for our street and have let all the neighbors know that that is what it is....I hope our community will start using it. Vegetables in the front yard starting with a pumpkin plant for every kid on the block, a bean teepee for the girls to hide and tell secrets in, and herbs, lettuce and tomatoes for their parents is the plan. It looks like it has combined quite nicely but still no sight of the tulips we planted to keep the city fathers happy.
The community garden movement is in it's infancy as it were in my community....last year it was in containers at a school and in a parking lot. I don't know if it was a lack of gardeners, or what but will try to become more involved with their projects, as well as my own odd obsessions.
If I can ever pry myself out of my own garden
cheers

--- In Organic_Gardening@yahoogroups.com, Aimee Moran <aimee.moran@...> wrote:
>
> I'm part of a community garden in Southeast Michigan; this is the second
> year for the garden, although several of us are gardeners of many years
> standing.
>
> We had the first workday of the year today, and were most fortunate; the sun
> shone brightly on us, although it was a chill 50 degrees and a bit breezy.
>
> Last fall we had created about 1/2 acre of lasagna beds on top of "soil"
> that was nasty fill dirt (it was more like concrete!) on the site of a
> former building. Even grass and weeds had failed to grow there for years,
> except in spotty areas. The stuff was so hard that we broke a commercial
> tiller trying to break up the soil, even after a rainstorm had "softened"
> the ground. (Yes, we did have the soil tested: <3% organic matter, but okay
> on the toxic and heavy-metal nasties)
>
> Last October about 20 of us hauled load after load (after load...) of straw,
> leaves, wood chips (for the paths), horse manure, some compost, and a little
> topsoil, to make beds about 25" high. We didn't put down newspaper, there
> was nothing growing there to smother! Then we put the shovels into the rack
> for the winter and basically didn't touch the beds until today.
>
> They looked a little scraggly - just dull light-brown with dead leaves on
> top. Then our Fearless Leader stuck a fork in one and turned it over, and it
> was absolutely unbelievable. Black, black soil just begging for plants;
> hundreds of earthworms longer than my hand; wonderful, moist composted
> matter. And it seemed to have soaked into the "dirt" below a bit as well.
> It's still not great down there, but it looks like if plants try to put
> roots into it they'll have a fighting chance, and the beds - which have
> settled down to about 10-12" - will do plenty to support them on the
> surface.
>
> It's way too early to plant outdoors here in the northern climes, but I have
> to say I'm totally sold on the lasagna bed idea, and can't wait to be
> digging in dirt again! We built a couple of cold frames today, and our
> members with the sprouting racks say the babies are coming along great.
>
> If you need encouragement to try the lasagna beds, here's another vote for
> them!
>
> I just had to share -
>
> Aimee
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

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