Right: Our soil when we first moved onto our land...the worst dirt in the history of dirt! Eddie actually broke a pick ax trying to dig a hole. Tilling was an impossibility. After years of use as a pasture, the land would barely sustain bermuda grass, let alone a productive garden.The solution: Sheet composting! I found a lovely book by Pat Lanza called 'lasagne gardening'...it is an introduction to starting a garden without any tilling or heavy equipment. Over the last three years, we have converted well over a full acre, and more than 4 tons of biodegradable wastes, into lush garden soil!
We gathered boxes from local businesses, as well as newspapers.
Thick layers were overlapped to completely smother the pesky and invasive pasture grasses, and grass clippings, manure from local stables, leaves left curbside in the city, and compost were layered on top of the boxes. In 18 months, the result was fertile soil!
