In my opinion, if you have to ask, yes, you should probably add something. Remember it sinks dramatically. Mine were up to 6'' a season,depending upon the contents.

If you plan to plant immediately, you'll need to at least make soil "pockets" in the lasagna to accommodate your plants' roots.

I've done it a gudzillion times (yes, a gudzillion. I have 6.5 acres) and love it. You can always add more and more and more.

I had to move 2 beds I made 4 years ago. 3' deep at the deepest. All that garbage, grass, cardboard, leaves, straw, grass, some top soil for good measure and a couple of years of mulch are the most gorgeous, black, rich soil I've ever seen -- including that in Michigan where I grew up.

So pile it on. Mulch/compost your dead plants back into the soil when winter comes.

You're going to love it.

Christine

Thanks. I'm planting the seeds in newspaper pots I made filled with potting soil. After I get some more on these beds I hope that will be enough for this year. I am confident next year will be fine, just concerned about this year. Thanks!

Don't worry too much. Nature's been doing this for a very long time. We're just copying her processes.

Good luck with your veggies.

C.

Hi, if you do a search on lasagna in the soil forum you will find lots of advice on possible layers for a lasagna bed. Starbucks used coffee grounds are often easy to come by, old produce from grocery stores or farmers markets in an option (you need to ask assertively, of course), manure from small animals like bunnies and chickens (horse and cow manure needs some good composting time before you are planting), and so on.

I stockpile horse manure and other people's leaves in the fall. Then I have leaves to mix with all the old produce I get throughout the year, and the horse manure is old/cooked enough to actually use in the garden in the spring and summer.

Don't forget that you can throw on some of your sandy dirt on top as part of the planting medium. Good luck, I love lasagna gardening myself.

Marcia

A good tutorial, as well as help, can be found at the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lasagna Gardening 101

Hey- it looks pretty good to me! Cape Cod sand will eat OM like Dom Deluis in a roller chair at the buffet. Good suggestions above- throw in some sandy soil, add more leaves/grass as available. You can plant in soil pockest- and keep adding throughout the season- so no worries on timing.

Looks like a great start! I'm addicted to using lasagna beds myself. So easy and most materials can be obtained free for the asking, like grass clippings, bagged leaves, coffee grounds and even horse manure from a local stable. You can set plants pretty close - see Square Foot Forum - and get the most from your beds. I plant out in fairly new beds but add some soil/compost in the immediate planting area.
Re pumpkins: They take up a lot of space, but you can companion plant them with other vegetables. I interplant flowers and herbs with all my veggies as a pest deterrent and to attract beneficials/pollinators.
Good luck and keep us posted with pics!
Rosemary

You can start pumpkins on the edge of a bed and let the vines go nuts in the yard. At branching points and leaf areas they will try to send down roots (otherwise it would be hard to keep water flowing through that whole vine to feed a thirsty pumpkin). You can bury them with compostables- leaving leaves sticking out- to make them more effective at maintaining moisture in sandy soil. This also reduces the chances that squash vine borers will attack the vine.

The advice is there, add anything that will break down, (no don't put your other half on) if you are starting from scratch put down a layer of cardboard, but if you have already started you can add shredded newspaper, sawdust, peelings, kitchen waste, old fruit and vegetables just to mention a few, but no chemicals! which will truly give you organic gardening. Plant into this mixture straight away and be amazed at how the plants grow, remember, most of all :- you do not have to turn it over. Hints, tips & advice on my pages of lasagna gardening.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.gardeningforyou.com

Well I have just had a good laugh. Lasagna gardening. I have called my layered method of composting "compost lasagna" for years and people always get a chuckle out of that.
Years ago, 1977 or 78, I read a book by Max Alth called "How to Farm Your Backyard the Mulch Organic Way" He was a proponent of this method. He called it "sheet mulching" rather than lasagna, but it's exactly the same thing. I started using it back then and have ever since. It is simple and it simply works.
I pile it on thick about a foot thick in 40 inch wide beds with good size paths in between. Lay my produce tape drip line up on top. Pull back the mulch where the seeds need to find soil and plant.
I use thick mulch like this in my orchards too. Works there too. I put kitchen trimmings in the orchard since they are a bit more unsightly and harder to work with and usually slower to break down. I get truck loads of shredded/chipped material from a company that does tree trimming and has one of those big chipping machine. (They used to actually pay me to take the material, cheaper than taking it to the dump, but they no longer do that) I also have an 8 horse power Troybuilt chipper for all the pruning from my own place. The material from the Troybuilt is the most attractive, so I use that around the front of the house so it looks good for the neighbors. We also have neighbors with horses on both sides, so we use horse manure mixed in with the woody materials. Be careful with horse manure if you have heavy soil and it will make the soil tight.
Well, it's good to know others are doing this. I have converted a few friends over the years. I recommend it to everyone. Good to know others are having success with it too.

Well, we had a pretty productive year in our garden but lost a lot of the crop to end rot and what I think was vine borer. Any suggestions for next year?
It was our squashes mostly (zuccini, pattypan, and summer) Lots of blossoms got fuzzy black rot on them and fell off. Some of the fruit would get going really well then shrivel up, the vines those fruits were on were shriveled up and all holey like they were eaten.
Tomatoes took off and produced and produced and produced! We got another load of seaweed on yesterday and dressed that up with the contents of our compost bin. Should be another good year if I can lick the end rot and vine borer problem.
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The blue bin will be carrots, lettuce and kale. I'm thinking of filling it with some of our abundant sand, mixing it with some of our abundant sawdust, shredded leaves, and some seaweeed.
Thanks for the help everyone!

Blossom End Rot is caused by Calcium deficiency at fruit set and that could be caused by a lack of adequate soil Calcium levels, a lack of sufficient soil moisture so the available Calcium cannot move up the plant, growth too fast for the Calcium to get up the plant in a timley manner. Start by contacting the University of Massechussetts USDA Cooeprative Extension Service office nearest you about a soil test.

Here is a link that might be useful: UMASS CES

Hehe, thanks. I live next door to a CES office. Where it is a lasagna garden, won't the "soil" be different in spots of the garden and constantly changing based on what is composting? I thought the seaweed would provide the calcium... I guess I can add some lime then.

Ah, wait. If the vine borers get into the vine and cut the plant off from proper water intake, that would result in the calcium deficiency, no? I need to control the borer problem and that might take care of the calcium problem. I'll still check into the CES office and get a test.

Once you get your soil into that good, healthy condition the Soil Food Web will be at work feeding your plants what they need when they need it, providing you keep the soil just moist enough for all that to happen. Vine borers can and will cut off nutrient supply to any fruit that might be downstream from the borers.