It's amazingly easy. That's what is so great about this concept. If you're looking for a gardening method that won't break your back...or your pocketbook, this is the one!

This opened my eyes of gardening.Be green and you will benefit from all the waste that is thrown away. MY NEW GREEN THUMB

I feel compelled to address the peat moss concern in the most critical review of this book. It is a shame that the ancient peat bogs in Britain were devastated :( but this is not the case in North America. Most peat in the U.S. comes from Canada which harvests a fraction, .006, of their peat supplies. Moreover, those supplies renew themselves at 70 times the rate of harvest. This, and more reassuring information is provided by the The Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association: http://www.peatmoss.com/concern.php

With that bit of cheery news aside...I too share a few benefits I received from this marvelous book, trying not to duplicate comments of other reviewers.

E-Z Paths!: Tired of the dusty, dirty, noisy job of weed beating my garden's paths, I decided to use wetted newspaper covered with a few inches of wood bark mulch. The bark mulch was free from county road crews and a local tree business who were happy to dump it in my yard when they were in the area. When I ran out of newspaper I found a small business pleased to give me piles of discarded cardboard boxes. After one year the paths are still weed-free and the transformation puts a smile on my face each time I walk in the garden.

Modified bag idea: I loved the idea of bagging leaves and setting the bags over grass to kill it, but alas, we have few deciduous trees and I did not want to bag mulch. Inspired by Lansa's ingenuity, I purchased 10 EarthBoxes, set them over a grassy area, then planted winter crops in the boxes. This method has helped me reclaim my large garden bit-by-bit. EarthBox RB-EB-GRN-PBB Garden Kit Dark Green I have also used just four EarthBoxes to anchor four corners of heavy plastic with success.

Well written: Ms. Lansa's writing voice is much like having a conversation with a neighborly garden mentor.

Eco-friendly: The no-till methods help soil retain carbon as well as saving on fuel.

Conclusion: The book is as priceless as good heirloom seed and just as share worthy.

I like the clear explanations in this book, accompanied by helpful illustrations, tips, and bits and pieces from the author's extensive gardening experience. I've used some of the techniques in combination with French intensive methods that do require an initial double-digging, and the loose, aerated soil of raised beds makes no-tool planting and weed control easy.

I do think the way this book is marketed is problematic--starting with the cover: "A New Layering System...." As the author herself points out, the system is sheet composting combined with a no-till approach. Nothing new there. And although the "no digging, no tilling, no weeding" is true, or mostly true, the organic material needed to make a four-foot-by-ten bed raised 24" has to come from somewhere. Again, the author notes this, but the advertising makes it all seem effortless--which indeed it is if you don't mind spending a fortune on peat moss (a vanishing resource--buy coconut coir instead), amendments, and imported soil. The advantage of double-digging is that the soil is already there waiting for you. Alas, authors have very little say in how their books are marketed.

This one is very easy to read; the author did a fine job of showing how she works.

There are so many great gardening books out there that it would be sad for a novice to waste their time on "Lasagna" gardening. It appears to me that publisher Rodale has shamelessly repackaged a minor composting variation into a whole book with only profits in mind. May I suggest The Vegetable Gardeners Bible by Ed Smith, Gardener's A-Z Guide by Tanya Denkla, Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartolomew, or Four Season Harvest by Elliott Coleman.

There are so many great gardening books out there that it would be sad for a novice to waste their time on "Lasagna" gardening. It appears to me that publisher Rodale has shamelessly repackaged a minor composting variation into a whole book with only profits in mind. May I suggest Gardener's A-Z Guide by Tanya Denkla, Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartolomew, or Four Season Harvest by Elliott Coleman.

I believe that when it comes to books presenting new ways of doing anything, the only testimony that counts is that which comes from firsthand experience. Well folks, I'm here to tell you after a year of gardening the lasagna way that my firsthand experience shows this book is one of the wisest investments any gardener can make. Let me tell you about my 2003 garden.

First, a short outline of lasagna gardening technique: soak b&w newspapers in water, then overlap sections in a single layer directly on top of premarked sod area. This smothers the weeds/grass underneath. Then put a 4 inch layer of moistened peat moss over that, followed by a moist layer of organic shredded green material, followed by another layer of peat moss, followed by a layer of moist compost or yard waste, repeat the peat moss/organic matter pattern until your bed is built up to at least 18 inches high. Finish with compost on top, then either let it break down for a few months for certain crops or plant seeds and transplants directly into the matrix by pushing aside layers and inserting. As the layers break down, the earthworms will be eating the sod and breaking up the newspapers, mixing the layers together for you. The final result is an organic, self-tilled soil that's rich and free of disease and weed seeds. It's so simple.

Note: the author did neglect to mention the importance of wetting down each layer as you build the beds. I only figured this out because I had made compost before and I knew you needed moist materials for it to work.

In late fall of 2002 I built a 5 foot by 25 foot border bed for perennial flowers the lasagna way after reading Patricia Lanza's book. It sounded almost too good to be true - no digging, no tilling, no weeding? What was the catch, I asked myself. When I was done I planted perennials taken from four inch pots, watered them in, and left them for the winter rains to take care of (we can do that in So. Cal, hee hee). They settled in nicely and grew steadily, but it was cool weather so the roots were doing most of the growth at that time. A few months later as top growth appeared I was encouraged to build more lasagna beds in my vegetable garden - two 5 by 5 raised beds to go with my other two traditionally tilled raised beds (those were a lot of work, double digging, sifting rocks, mixing compost, etc. I wish now that I had known about the lasagna method a few years ago!). After about two hour's work I was done layering my new vegetable beds and watered them down to compost a little. In late May, I transplanted sweet peppers and basil starts to one lasagna bed and planted cantaloupes and flowers in the other.

Those two lasagna beds outperformed the traditional beds in every way. That summer I harvested more sweet peppers than ever before. It was my first try growing cantaloupes, so I have no previous crops to compare, but they did well and I harvested quite a few delicious, sun-sweetened cantaloupes from that bed. Meanwhile the flowers seemed to love the soil in my perennial bed, and they grew to huge proportions, filling in the space nicely by season's end. As promised, there was little watering and even less weeding. As a bonus, I never fertilized because the soil was already so rich in composting organic matter. Best of all, no soil-borne diseases! This was an organic gardener's paradise.

Author Patricia Lanza uses plenty of real-life examples from her own gardens to illustrate the effectiveness of this technique. She explains in detail how lasagna gardening differs from traditional tilling and double digging, what the benefits are and which crops need to wait while the layers compost down and which can be put in right away. There is an alphabetical listing of ways to plant annuals and seeds in lasagna beds, a plethora of tips on maximizing your space and innovating ways to grow vertically if need be. There are also garden plans for flower borders and perennial beds grouped according to watering and sunshine needs.

Please don't be afraid to break with "tradition" - you could save not only your garden tool budget, but your back as well. And if the promise of all those fruits, veggies and flowers with less work and more pleasure isn't enough for you, then you must really love that rototiller!
-Andrea, aka Merribelle

I am a gardener since the 1970s. I have two rototillers and all kinds of other garden junk (of course to help me with my chores in the garden). My wife got the book for me and I duely ignored it for over a year. Then, having promised my wife that I would at least read a part of the book, I became facinated with the basic idea. My garden is approximately 45 by 60 ft in size. I took approximately one third of the garden and covered it with a layer of old hay, grass clippings and leaves one fall. the results were good. Not only did I get good results from my planting, I did not have to rototill or cultivate. My wife loves it because she doesnt get her shoes muddy.

After three years trial I am convinced. The tillers will be cleaned up and ready for sale this next spring.
anyone for

Composting without the bin is the basic idea behind Patricia Lanza's lasagna gardening technique involving the layering of organic materials to create new, raised gardening beds. Her first chapter explains the technique, theory and materials in detail and is a great how-to guide. However, after the inital explanation, the book turns into a typical, although well organized and nicely written, garden handbook with chapters on vegetables, herbs, berries and flowers. Lanza has a wealth of gardening experience and offers many "tips and time savers" throughout the book. The final chapters include information on gardening for birds, extending the gardening season, and organic approaches to pest control. Finally, Lanza returns to the lasagna technique and adapts it for the reader's use in small and unusual spaces, as well as for container gardening. Although most of us won't have all the materials on hand initially for much more than a small plot, it is worth learning this earth-friendly method, and you may pick up a tip or two from Lanza's vast gardening experiences.

This is one of my favorite gardening books. I collect gardening books and have a very extensive collection. This book should be on everyone's list. It details an ingenious method of gardening without the backbreaking work. I immediately put her practices into place and have never had to dig another bed!!! It's fabulous! No more sore backs! No more hours of toil! Just a quick method that will get you the same results in 10th of the work. If that weren't enough, it has chapters on individual plants so you get even more than you bargained for.