Aug. 10 column: Mary Lee Gaston

August 10, 2014 Susan

Here is a link to my column in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: ‘Lasagna gardening’ yields big harvest. (or you can read my column lower in this post.) 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.” This entails layering organic amendments on top of the soil and growing your plants in that.

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

Column: Gardener Profile Mary Lee Gaston

by Susan Mulvihill

Sometimes it really pays to think outside the box. Last year, Mary Lee Gaston did just that and it has completely changed the way she grows her vegetable garden.

A friend of hers had been telling her about the “lasagna gardening” method. This involves the layering of organic materials on top of the ground to improve one’s soil. That creates a rich environment for plants to grow in.

Meet Mary Lee Gaston

Gaston, who lives in northwest Spokane, didn’t want to build raised beds. She was also anxious to cut down on weeding, which had been a frustrating problem in previous years. After hearing she’d spend less time weeding by doing lasagna gardening, she knew it was worth a try.

“I felt like I was cheating Mother Nature by not using the soil but the results were phenomenal,” Gaston said.

It turns out she had one of the most productive gardens ever and is using the same method this year. During a recent visit to Gaston’s garden, she outlined the steps she went through.

Gaston’s methods

“I created three mounds last year that were 3 feet wide and 40 feet long,” she explained. “I used newspapers as the first layer because they rot real fast and have soy-based ink. That means they’re safe to use. Next, I put down a layer of thin cardboard so it won’t take long to rot. After that, I added dry pine needles and leaves. The top layer was composted chicken manure.”

She grows everything organically. Gaston uses leaves from neighbors’ trees after making sure they haven’t been treated with chemicals. She also adds organic chicken manure from Whitney Farms and homemade compost.

Last year, Gaston grew potatoes, onions, lettuce and kale in the new mounds. She was astounded by how well everything grew.

The results

She was particularly impressed by how loose the soil was. All she had to do was reach into the mix and pull out potatoes with her hands. In addition, she appreciated the lack of weeding she had to do.

“I would occasionally see a weed but that was because I hadn’t put enough newspaper down,” she said. “I’d pull the weed, put down more newspaper and throw on some more compost.”

This year, Gaston has created 10 mounds in her garden using the layering method. She’s growing a wide variety of crops in the mounds — green beans, carrots, cardoon, broccoli, cabbage, Italian lettuces, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, Swiss chard, beets, amaranth, kale, peppers and eggplant. Everything is growing beautifully.

She’s a little frustrated, though. Early in the season, she wasn’t able to get some additional organic compost. She went with a load of composted steer manure instead.

“The manure wasn’t composted well enough. That means it leached nitrogen. I had to track down a large amount of chicken manure to take care of that,” she explained. “And I’ve had a ton of weeds from the seeds in the steer manure. I won’t make that mistake again.”

But overall, Gaston is completely sold on the lasagna gardening method.

“Last year, I got twice as much produce from the garden as I have in past years. There were 95 percent fewer weeds compared to what I used to deal with,” she said. “It was phenomenal to have such soft medium that I could do things with my hands instead of needing tools. It was absolutely perfect.”

Learn more

To learn all about the lasagna gardening method, read Patricia Lanza’s book, “Lasagna Gardening” (Rodale Books, 244 pp., $17.99).