How to make a sheet mulch
Sheet mulching, lasagna
gardening, and no-till farming are all related by the effort to
grow crops without disturbing the soil. They're trying to prevent
the damage done by tilling, a common practice which mixes soil
profiles, kills important soil organisms, and often causes
erosion. Instead, thick layers of organic matter are applied
right on top of untouched soil, mimicking the leaf litter layer in a
forest which prevents weed seeds from sprouting, holds in water, and
provides a home for many soil organisms.
I would love to lasagna garden, but I just don't have the excess
organic matter it requires. I do intend to include some sheet
mulching in my new forest garden, though, especially where the Japanese
honeysuckle is so bad. Monday afternoon, I tore up some old
cardboard boxes I had in the barn to start the big golf cart path which
will run through the north end of the forest garden. For those of
you without access to my new favorite book, here are
the basic steps of a sheet mulch....
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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