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The lasagna method. That’s how I was taught to prepare a garden. So, a year ago I hacked down a bush in the back corner of the yard and framed up a 24’x16’ plot. Here’s where the lasagna part comes in… We laid down a layer of newspaper, covered it with a good thick layer of compost from the landfill, more newspaper, then a layer of grass clippings, and finally a topping of pretty purple leaves from our Canadian Chokecherry tree. A winter’s worth of settling and decomposition and this past spring it was ready for a good ‘ol fashioned tilling. Brianna and I had a fun time picking out stuff at Jolly Lane. Turns out our oldest really likes gardening and helped plant everything. We had carrots, onions, cucumbers, big tomatoes, medium tomatoes, small tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, and brussel sprouts. The lasagna method was successful as the thing turned into a friggin jungle. The zucchini went nuts and all the tomato plants just took over. Unfortunately, the carrots fizzled and the cucumbers got over watered with several streaks of consistent rain. This was my first experience with brussel sprouts…that’s an interesting plant. Next year we’ll do things a little different and hopefully add a little more room!

She said:

Having our own garden was SO COOL. I love love cooking from scratch, using fresh ingredients. It’s the best ever. I obviously wasn’t much help in the process, beyond picking out the plants from the greenhouse (which was way more fun than I thought it could be!). But our oldest found a new love of gardening. She found it incredibly satisfying to put in the work, and see the fruit of that labor. Or, vegetable, in this case. Once the plants started to produce, it was such a thrill to see giant bowls of tomatoes and monster zucchinis coming in from the garden! We made SO MUCH FRESH PASTA SAUCE. My homemade spaghetti sauce from scratch is legendary, but made with fresh tomatoes? Whole new level of amazing. And because I can’t do much cooking these days, our oldest two helped out in the kitchen and I got to teach them how to make my sauce.