When we moved in 5 years ago in the fall, I used our moving boxes to lay out the beds, then went into the fields & collected manure to layer on top, and then collected wood chips & topped them off. I dragged logs out of the woods to line the bed (we have 37 acres), and planted in the spring. (I love wintersowing!!) In the years since, I have topdressed with compost & added more woodchips. Here are the results: 2 year old woodshed bed: And this year, IÂm planning an all red flowers bed in this space, and will lasagna it too: If you havenÂt seen a red bed, go to the cottage forums  it should still be on the first or second page. Amazing!! All the best, Gail

I feel incredible appreciation every day. It's not easy to grow roses here. I had to learn a lot. But they are happy most of the time. I can't imagine not being able to garden 12 months anymore. I did it for 40 years and hated, hated, hated the winters. I'd be like a kid looking out the window waiting for spring. It's been rainy and I've been stuck inside for a few days and I feel incredibly deprived of my 'playtime in the garden.' We have a pool, so if it gets hot, jump in, cool off, and back to the garden. Nancy

I use the ronzoni no-bake pasta for our lasagna. Comes out great. However, I always freeze already cooked lasagna (leftovers), thaw, and reheat. BTW, here the traditional family recipe we use. I also have a recipe for gravy (sauce) and meatballs if anyone would like it. Sue LASAGNA Either roll home-made lasagna sheets, use the no-boil lasagna from the store, or boil up a bunch of lasagna noodles and use those. Filling: 4 to 5 pounds of ricotta (fresh is awesome and sooo creamy) 4 Eggs (you may only need 3) 1.5 C. grated Romano (Locatelli is best) or Parmesan-Reggiano 1/2 C. Chopped fresh parsley (or 1/4 C dried) 12 oz + 1 Cup Mozzarella - grated -Batch of small meatballs (use your favorite meatball recipe, just make them tiny (1/2") - 4 to 5 C. Gravy (sauce) Mix ricotta, 3 eggs, grated Romano (or Parmesan), parsley, and 12 oz grated mozzarella. If mixture looks dry, add the 4th egg. It shouldn't be runny, but should be very thick. Fold in meatballs. Boil and drain the lasagna noodles (if using) In high-sided baking pan spoon in a cup of sauce and spread over bottom of pan. Add one layer of pasta. Spoon some sauce and spread to cover pasta. Add half of the ricotta/meatball mixture. Spoon some sauce to cover lightly. Layer another layer of pasta. Spoon sauce over to cover lightly. Spread remaining ricotta mixture. Cover with last layer of pasta. Spoon on some sauce. Cover with foil (make venting holes in top). Bake in oven @ 350° for 50 minutes. Check if its done by inserting a knife in the middle. If it comes out piping hot, it's done. Remove foil, sprinkle 1 Cup of mozzarella over top. Bake uncovered for 10 minutes more. Let sit for 15 minutes before cutting otherwise it will ooze all over the place.

Lasagna is more about a method than a recipe. All of your ingredients sound good except for one thing: Moisture. You have lots of moisture and nothing to sop it up with--or, that is, I took this to mean that you want to use zucchini instead of pasta. The pasta is what soaks up the excess moisture, as well as the ricotta (if you use it well drained). Why does it have to have sour cream? Just because you have it? I think your ingredients sound fine except for the sour cream. The dish is light on protein if you don't use the meat. You could try draining the sour cream, or even adding some heat and acid to separate it from from the whey, but you don't need it to make lasagna. Okay, this might work if you really want to use the sour cream. Instead of making a tomato sauce, per se, use it to make a cream tomato sauce. Use your thicker canned tomato products, like some whole or diced tomatoes, drained, and some tomato paste. Recipe-ish: Slice the zucchini thin, lightly oil with cooking oil, and lightly season. Lay on baking sheets lined with parchment paper and roast or broil at 375-400° (depending on your oven) until well dry and just starting to get dark edges. Set the sour cream out on the counter to warm up some. Sauté a couple diced onions (or a giant one like they had at my store the other day), a diced red pepper or two, and 6 large cloves of garlic to a whole head, pressed or minced, depending on your preference as to quantity. Add any of the other vegetables you mentioned, cut to the same size as your onions and pepper--or steam them separately, and mix with dried herbs to use instead of meat. Be generous with the oil, which will help the viscosity of the sauce. Add chopped or dried Italian herbs: a spoon or two of oregano, thyme, basil, parsley, etc., plus some black pepper and, if you like a little heat, crushed red pepper. Stir in a can or two of tomato paste until you have a very stiff chunky sauce. Add the solids from your diced or whole canned tomatoes. Add salt to taste, but there may be plenty in the cans. Remove from heat. When the sauce has cooled down to no more than slightly warm, stir in the sour cream. Beat in an egg or two. Do you have any more cheese than the half lb. of mozzarella? Some bread crumbs? If you have bread crumbs--if this isn't meant to be a starch free dish--toast them on your baking tray. You're just drying them out. Or, if you have matzah meal or matzah (Cuisinart is great for grinding matzah) you can skip the toasting. The bread crumbs are there to soak up moisture and help with the gluing since there isn't much cheese. If you're making a meat version, brown the ground beef and add seasoning, herbs (try tarragon, for instance) and some tomato paste, or use crushed tomatoes and reduce out the extra water. If you're using the spinach feta chicken sausage, and it's already cooked, tear it up, or else cook it in crumbles. Make a béchamel, including the nutmeg, and stir the sausage into it. The apple sausage isn't a good idea with tomato. Or prepare the broccoli, cauliflower, maybe some carrots, and any other veg you want, as stated above, by steaming and dressing with a little olive oil and plenty of dried herbs. S&P to taste. You can use béchamel instead of the oil, but I'm losing track of whether or not there can be wheat in this dish. The trick is to chop small. Bigger than minced, but small enough not to be chunks that need to be chewed separately. Put a big spoon of sauce, without many chunks in the bottom of the pan and spread it all around, or oil the pan well. Lay out the zucchini slices to cover as much as possible. Spread on the sauce with a soft baking spatula. Sprinkle with bread crumbs, if you're using them, enough cheese to cover but being careful to leave plenty for the layers and a goodly amount for the top. Add a second layer of zucchini and sauce and a layer of your saucy meat, or steamed veg mix, or another layer of the tomato sauce, bread crumbs and cheese. Repeat the first layer and cap with a fourth layer of zucchini, or go straight to the topping, depending on the height of your dish. You can go five or six layers if you have enough zucchini, filling and dish. If you have any sauce left, coat the top layer of zucchini with it. If not, slightly dilute some tomato paste with wine and oil until it's just spreadable and use that. Sprinkle with herbs. Cover liberally with the rest of your cheese. Cover very loosely with foil and bake at 350° for about 35 minutes. Remove the foil and finish baking for another 10-15 minutes until nicely browned and bubbling hot. An alternative would be to make béchamel (besciamella) out of the sour cream. It's possible. I've done it. But it's so so so easy to make it go wrong and have it curdle or split that I don't really recommend it unless you feel very comfortable doing it. That is, it's possible if it's pure cream (ingredients says cream and enzymes). If there are stabilizers or even just added milk solids or something, don't even try. That's traditional lasagna, the besciamella is. Good luck! Buon appetito!