Lasagna Gardening 101

When you make lasagna, you layer pasta, sauce, cheese and meat until your pan is piled high with ingredients. When you make a lasagna garden, Patricia says you choose a garden site and then cover the ground with thick pads of newspaper soaked with water. Then, you layer green and brown yard waste and other organic materials, at a ratio of one part green to four parts brown, until the garden is layered up several inches high—like a lasagna.

Patricia says wet newspaper kills the grass and weeds on your garden site and attracts earthworms that will help till the soil you create. Assembling a 4-by-8-foot lasagna garden only takes about 45 minutes, and once it's built, Patricia says you simply make space to plant your seed or seedling by pulling some of the layers apart, then add water, stand back and watch your garden grow. "It's easy and organic and smart," Patricia says. "What I am asking people to do is to work less and gain more."

Materials you need for a lasagna garden