More from the Garden Club--Succession Greens and Lasagna

This is my second report on the meeting of my local Garden Club.

There were treats in the back of the room. When we went  back after the meeting to snack and schmooze, one man told me to start my seedlings outside and they will be heartier later on. To be more specific, we discussed starting them later (this is Chicago after all) and outside and certain plants such as onions, lettuce, spinach which all like the colder weather.
Before we broke for refreshments, Beth Botts, the freelance gardening writer, talked the small balcony gardener having to be disciplined about planting. Botts spoke of the same situation I found myself in earlier this month having started off too many seedlings. More took than I expected and I had seedlings all over the place knowing I would have no room to grow them to maturity. I started giving them away.

Botts remedy for this frequent mistake is to succession plant. She said that this works well particularly for greens. By greens she was talking about plants such as leaf lettuces, mesclun mixes, bok choy, arugula. Succession planting is when you start your seeds early in the season and plant more in stages, starting off some seedlings, letting them grow, and planting more later and more as you start harvesting the earlier ones. This method will give you greens all season instead of just one large harvest.

A Lasagna I Made This Past Winter. Not a Lasagna Garden,
but the layering concept holds for both.

This brought up another topic, lasagna gardening. Lasagna gardening is named after the famous layered pasta, tomato sauce, cheese, meat or vegetable dish because it involves layering organic material that will decompose over time and create a wonderfully rich and fluffy soil. It also allows the gardener to build up a planting area, in a raised bed, old tires (yes, old tires) or even a large container. If you're lasagna gardening outdoors on the ground, you don't have to turn over the soil. The advantages include fewer weeds because you're not digging up and re-planting weed seeds and the ability to garden even where the soil is hard and clay-like (like my dad's backyard) or rocky.

Here's more on lasagna gardening. Here too.

The discussion on lasagna gardening brought up a discussion on the use of grass clippings. Botts was all for using clippings as mulch and to compost. However, you have to be very careful not to use clippings from lawns that have been chemically treated. If you're going to all the trouble to grow some of your own food, the advantage is that you know what's in it and you can keep it more chemical free than food you purchase. So, why add chemicals?

I've been to a farm where they compost just about everything including the dinner scraps. The chickens picked off a lot of the vegetables and egg shells, but the rest eventually works its way down into soil. I don't think I can compost in a condo without the neighbors getting upset, but I hear it's a great way to create your soil. Here's some information on composting, but be careful because as the article mentions, if your produce gets too good the neighbors will walk away with it. Ha! They'll have to fly to get to my garden because I'm not on the ground floor.

Here's more on composting with an all important what NOT to compost section.

More later..........