Liz Segler doesn’t believe a gardener has to be a slave to the shovel, tiller and hoe. The 67-year-old garden enthusiast teaches others how to save a lot of wear and tear on the body with lasagna gardening.
No, lasagna gardening isn’t growing basil, oregano, parsley and other herbs often used in the popular Italian pasta dish. It’s a method of gardening that maximizes nature and minimizes effort in creating a dig-free garden.
Dig-free?
“Yes,” said Segler. “I don’t make lasagna. I don’t eat lasagna. But I grow a lasagna garden.”
Segler first became interested in gardening as a stressed-out teacher and coach. “It helped me unwind. I’d come out here and dig and talk to the plants and then I’d be ready to go in and meet my family and fix dinner,” the now retired Segler said.
Here’s how Segler makes her garden:
(The newspapers eventually decompose and provide a perfect home for earthworms, which help aerate and enrich the soil.) You can make as many layers as you want, with organic matter and compost topping each other.
The heavy mulching keeps weeds down, retains moisture and decomposes to enrich the garden.
The finished beds are good for vegetables, herbs, flowers or whatever suits the gardener’s fancy, Segler said. You don’t need to dig to plant; simply pull the layers aside to make a small hole, insert the young plant, then pull the layers back together and firm up soil to cover the roots.
“It only takes a couple of hours,” Segler said. “I make my bed about 4 feet wide because I don’t want to walk in it. I can reach across from either side.”
The earth-friendly, organic lasagna gardening method is great for anyone 35 or older or with limited strength or mobility, Segler said.
“No hoeing, no raking, no roto-tilling.”
