Lasagna Gardening 101

While lasagna gardening is a way to easily grow fruit, vegetables, flowers and herbs, Patricia says it's also a great way to help you live a green lifestyle. Here's why:

You're recycling waste: The materials used to create your lasagna garden typically end up in landfills, Patricia says. By using barn litter, newspaper, grass clipping, leaves, chopped up limbs of trees and more in your garden, you are reducing waste and recycling!

You're not using chemicals: You shouldn't have to use any chemicals in lasagna gardening, Patricia says. You produce all-natural chemicals from your green and brown raw materials and you can consider the food and flowers you grow to be chemical-free.

You're conserving water: Patricia says lasagna gardening uses a quarter of the water a traditional garden uses because the materials are concentrated and stay moist. She suggests using a soaker hose to water your garden when you first plant, and then water as needed throughout the growing season.

Once you build your first lasagna garden, Patricia says you'll want to expand and garden more. "If you do this, you'll develop a lasagna gardener's eye and see resources [to build] your garden all around you," she says.

Check out Erin White's lasagna garden in Iowa

Erin's step-by-step directions to build your own lasagna garden