Lasagna method

I have at least 2 months before I plant my garden. I also just remodeled my bathroom and I have tons of boxes. I figured i might as well make use of them my question is how to put them where i am gonna garden. Should i do cardboard, mulch, chicken manure? Or should I do mulch, cardboard, chicken manure? Those are the ingredients I have available. I know they may not be all broken down in 2 months, but figure it can hurt to try.

P.s. I have removed all glossy and heavily dyed parts of the cardboard

Stephen,

My thoughts (and they are only just that—thoughts.  Take them for whatever you think appropriate) are to first lay down cardboard as both a brown and as a weed barrier.  I would then throw in the chicken manure followed by mulch.

My reasoning is this:

1). The cardboard serves a dual purpose—weed barrier and a brown.

2). The chicken manure is pretty obvious.  But nitrogen is probably the most mobile nutrient so

3). Cover with mulch to help capture and soak up that N from the manure.

I would think that you would get a pretty healthy supply of compost.

Eric

Thanks.  That was what I thought. So then I was thinking cut holes in the cardboard come planting time.

Hi Stephen,
I would do them in the same order Eric recommends. It would make sense (in my mind) that the nitrogen source being between the two carbons will encourage break-down, especially with the cardboard. Also (again, in my mind), it would seem like the carbon would tie up, at least, some of the nitrogen, to help minimize it burning the plants.
The only thing I can think to add to what Eric said is to wet down the ground, cardboard & manure well prior to putting on the next layer.

As I prepare my beds for planting in the next week or so, I've noticed the rabbit manure & chips I laid down last fall are still fairly thick, so I'm hoping it will work to dig planting holes in the mulch, and filling the holes with pockets of soil to put the seeds/transplants in. That may be something you can consider doing if your lasagna hasn't fully broken down at planting time. You just may want to poke a hole in the cardboard when planting if it's still intact enough to block the roots from getting to the soil.

Good luck & let us know how it turns out!

If there's enough moisture, the cardboard will breakdown by the end of the season. May be thin enought to ignore or poke holes in by planting time, so if you start now, you may not have to cut. Also, until it settles enough to conform to the shape of the ground, walk carefully. It can be a little slick and your mulch can move around underfoot. I would think that with your time table, that could be done with by planting time if you put it down soon.

Thanks for the replies. I typically dont feel safe planting until the middle of march. Apparently north central WV is a tropical rainforest and we get extreme amount of rain. My only concern is mold. My ground stays so wet that my garden suffered bigtime last year. I was able to big one big hugelkultur bed last fall. I will do another this fall and keep going until I have 5 or so. Hopefully they will help by keeping my roots a little drier. Thanks for all the replies

Stephen,

With that much moisture you might not need to cut holes in the cardboard as moisture will cause the cardboard to be not much of a barrier to little roots searching for deep soil.

Of course, you could certainly cut little holes, either at planting or before if you wish.

But I would think that you will have some excellent compost in short time.

Eric