Making a Lasagna Garden
OBJECTIVE
Students will be able to build a lasagna garden bed
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
What is decomposition?
How do we build healthy soil?
MATERIALS NEEDED
- Mixture of nitrogen/green sources or organic waste: food waste/grass
clippings/compost - Mixture of carbon/dry sources of organic waste: newspaper, dry leaves
- Cardboard
- Watering cans
PROCEDURE
Introduction:
Ask students: what happens to leaves when they fall off the trees in the woods? Bodies of animals when they die in the woods? Have you ever taken a walk in the woods and come across an old tree stretched across the path, with moss and mushrooms growing on it and hundreds of spiders and bus making their home in it? You have seen the beginnings of the way in which an important part of the soil is made. This part, which comes from dead plants and animals, is called organic matter. How do you think these dead plants and animals become soil? What do you think organic matter adds to the soil?
• How do you make regular lasagna? (layer pasta, sauce and veggies, cheese)
• What do you think the ingredients for our outdoor lasagna might be?
Draw on the board:
- First layer: noodles! – moist cardboard
- Second layer: sauce, meat, and veggies: 4-6 inches of compost
- The cheese: 6 inches of carbon layer
- Water
- Let cook for 3-6 months
Activity
Create teams for each task:
• Measure garden bed area (can be done ahead of time)
• Turn soil in garden bed area (can be done ahead of time)
• Place moist cardboard over garden bed area
• Place 4-6 inches of compost over garden bed area
• Place 6 inches of carbon layer over the area
• Water the bed
Wrap up/ Assessment:
• Ask children/have them write/draw: What does the garden bed look like now and how will it look in the spring? How will it change? Who will live in the lasagna bed?