Aug. 10 column: Mary Lee Gaston

Mary Lee Gaston

Here is a link to my column in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: ‘Lasagna gardening’ yields big harvest. Throughout the summer months, I enjoy meeting with local gardeners and writing profiles of them and their wonderful gardens.

Today’s column is a profile of Mary Lee Gaston, who lives in northwest Spokane. She grows an amazing vegetable garden each year. Last year and this year, she’s following the principles of “lasagna gardening,” in which you layer organic amendments on top of the soil and grow your plants in that.

Mary Lee’s garden!

She’s using a mixture of pine needles, leaves, composted chicken manure and her own compost. She was telling me the results have been fabulous and after visiting her garden a couple of weeks ago, I would definitely agree!

If you are curious about lasagna gardening, I’d recommend reading the book by Patricia Lanza: “Lasagna Gardening.” It’s published by Rodale Books and costs about $17. You might also be able to locate it at the public library.

I hope you’ll enjoy reading about Mary Lee.