My body may be embracing the cold temperatures while sliding on that black ice, but my mind is escaping to think about gardens, beautiful flowers, fresh veggies, green plants . . . it really won’t be long until the spring crops can go into the soil and the transplants can get their head start for an April or May transplant. The wet winter and spring is an ideal time to perform the lazy gardeners’ start to a garden by layering what can break down into soil.

Start the New Garden Now

The process is called lasagna or layer gardening. Like the edible lasagna, it is created with layers. The first layer can go onto the ground now. The ground can be frozen or mud. Start with a layer of cardboard or several layers of newsprint. If you use newsprint do not include the slick advertisements. Put the layer down where you want the garden to be. Get the size and shape the way you want it. There is no rule that says it needs to be rectangular. Just consider the maintenance of the yard around it. You will probably need to mow or weed-whack the outside shape.

After the first layer is down, water it. Watering will help to hold it in place and begin the breakdown or composting process. This layer can be left in place for several days to expedite the breakdown. The layer is heavy enough to cut down and smother unwanted growth underneath it.

The second layer should be manure or compost. Compost is defined as decayed organic matter that is used as a soil amendment. Composting does attract worms, and they are fabulous for a growing garden. Compost holds moisture, so it is ideal to be the second layer as it will expedite the breakdown of the first layer.

Manure is a potent ingredient to use when fresh. It’s just too hot to use on plants, but here it can age for several months before you plant. Be sure to add aged manure in an existing garden. In addition to starting a garden, this process will improve the soil of the selected area.

The third layer should be straw, not hay. Hay has too many seeds. If you use hay, expect some unwanted growth, so avoid it. Straw is considered a brown layer in this process. A garden lasagna is created with a rotation of brown and green layers. Brown layers should be twice the size of a green layer. Try to have the straw layer about one inch high. If you buy bales of straw, you can pull off layers from the side. Wet the layer to encourage the decomposition.

What makes a brown layer? Dried, compostable product, like paper, bags, cardboard, leaves, straw, pine needles, twigs and small branches. Common sense will tell you that the twigs take longer to break down, so use them without building a solid layer that the plant roots will have a hard time going through. The advantage to using twigs or small branches is the added moisture content that their breakdown brings to your new garden. Think of them as a sponge when they are broken down. Brown layers are carbon-based.

What makes a green layer? Veggie scraps, rotting food and grass clippings. The grass clippings should be chemical-free, ideally. Stay away from meat and gristle. Now, alternate layers.

You want the lasagna bed to be a minimum of two feet tall. As it breaks down, it will decrease in height. The bed should be topped with compost or topsoil.

If it gets to be planting season before your lasagna bed is done composting, plant anyway. The top layer of compost or topsoil will let the plants get established. As the plants grow, their roots deepen into the layers, assisting further in decomposition. This process is a great basis to a no-till garden for future seasons.

’Tis the Wishbook Season for Seeds

Seed catalogs are coming in the mail and you can get lost online with all the seed choices. What is a gardener to do? First, know the planting zone in which you live. Why? Well a planting zone takes the guesswork out of choosing a plant that will do best in your area by defining the plant’s hardiness. Hardiness considers the least controllable factors: heat, drought, cold and flooding. Middle Tennessee is in zone 7A.

Generally, the area has a growing season ranging from early April to late October. If you are going to be planting for any or all of the three growing seasons, do get all seeds in the spring. Seeds can be refrigerated until used. They do become less viable as they are stored through seasons.

There are hybrids, heirlooms, organic, GMOs and non-GMO seeds. What’s the difference? Why care? There is a ongoing, hot discussion on the nutritional value of fresh produce. Seed and soil quality are the basis of growth for fresh produce. So, what’s in that little embryo of a plant?

Hybrids combine genetics from two same species. They are unpredictable when it comes to saving their seeds. The greater number of seasons that seeds have been saved from a hybrid, then that crossbreed is on its way to become a heirloom. Some seed savers will denote what generation hybrid with indicators F-1, F-2, F-3. The higher the number, the greater number of years for stability of plant. In the first years, seeds can revert back to the parent type, negating the hybridization.

Heirlooms are established seeds that do not change from generation to generation. They are prevented from cross-pollination. Their seeds get saved and the same type of plant, with the same expected yield, the same resistance and weaknesses, grows again. Their dependability and deliverance of expectations are appreciated as well as the savings on seed costs.

Organic seed is a current catchphrase as farmers and gardeners have historically saved seeds without the use of pesticides. Pesticide-free plants are stronger and more resilient than those dependent on chemical help. Growers want the stronger seeds.

GMO seeds are genetically engineered seeds. They are called genetically modified organisms as they typically get injected with genes from another plant to help them develop favorable traits. The sought-after traits could be frost tolerance or resistance to weed killers. GMO seed is commercial seed. It is used by agribusiness for large scale crops of soybean, corn, cotton and sugar beet. Other than being a strong business decision, the quality of GMO crops is still being evaluated.

When choosing seed, select seeds that help with your successive planting plans. Get the most out of the space you have by having more than one crop grow in the same area of your garden. For further ideas, review succession planting or square-foot gardening. Have fun choosing vegetables for the next three seasons!