Lasagna mulching

The next two weeks I'll be doing lasagna mulching at some of the centers. This is an easy way to prepare new garden beds or build soil for older ones, without digging up sod or pulling weeds (although you want to remove some weeds such as blackberry, bindweed, morning glory or quackgrass, which the layering process won't smother).

Lasagna mulching consists of alternating layering sources of carbon & nitrogen. You want to start about 6 months before you intend on planting, to allow the materials to fully decompose. We'll be doing this for the beds we plant in later in the spring.
First mow the grass as low as possible. The you start with layering several sheets of cardboard (a carbon source) over your future bed; this will block out sunlight and smother the grass. Wet the cardboard thoroughly, then add a 1 inch layer of nitrogen, followed by a 1 inch layer of carbon. Repeat the layering or nitrogen and carbon 3 times and end with a layer or carbon. On top of this you can layer some burlap sacks and cover with black plastic. In about 4-6 months, remove the plastic and check to see if the materials have fully decomposed. The burlap sacks will also decompose, but if they are taking too long you can removed and compost them. The rest should like and smell like fresh soil when it is ready. The add some compost and get to planting!

Sources of carbon: sawdust, leaves, corn stalks, pine needles, peat moss, newspaper, cardboard, straw and hay.

Sources of nitrogen: coffee grounds, kitchen scraps, composted manures, alfalfa pellets, vegetable scraps, fresh grass clippings and cottonseed, soybean and blood meal.

We received all our supplies for this project for free:
*Cardboard- in large quantities from Costco
*Coffee grinds- starbucks
*Carbon- leaves (I didn't even have to collect them myself, I put an add on craigslist & someone was happy for me to take their bagged leaves of their hands)
*Burlap sacks- stumptown coffee roasters.

Since I am using coffee grinds as a nitrogen source, it will acidify the soil, so I will be adding lime over the top layer of carbon.

For more information check out the OSU extension's resources:
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/news/story.php?S_No=1080&storyType=garden

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/lane/sites/default/files/documents/Lasagna.pdf

Making Garden Journals

The kids made garden journals at Silverton this month. This is a simple indoor winter garden activity that they really enjoyed. We will use these the rest of the year for the kids to draw and write about what they learned in the gardens this year. Supplies needed: poster board, paper, string, a hole punch, some glue sticks and some pictures of vegetables for the covers.

Compost!

Thank you to Portland Metro! They've just agreed to donate four compost bins for our Garden Project, for our gardens in Washington and Clackamas counties. This will be a great addition to our project, giving us a place for garden waste for now, and eventually, a place for the cafeterias to compost all their kitchen scraps.

Everyone should compost! When vegetable scraps decompose anaerobically (ie: buried without oxygen in a landfill) they release methane, which is one of the leading greenhouse gases. On the other hand, when your vegetable scraps decompose in an aerated compost pile, they don't release greenhouse gases, they just turn into rich organic material that does wonders for the overall health of your soil, and therefore, your garden. Try it out! Even if you haven't started a garden yet, you can create a compost pile in your yard- just pile up all your kitchen waste somewhere in your yard closest to that neighbor you don't like (just kidding! aerated compost doesn't smell bad either, especially if you compost using a worm bin). Just make sure you leave out the meats, grease, and oils- these don't decompose as well and can attract pests such as rodents.

Composting can be as simple as piling up kitchen scraps in a bin and letting nature runs its course, or it can become quite an art & science of balancing carbon, nitrogen, and other micronutrients and cultivating an entire microbial universe. For more tips on the different methods of compost, for starting a compost bin, or where to get one, you can check out Metro's composting guide at:

http://www.metro-region.org/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=553