Sunday, January 1

About Patricia Lanza


Patricia Lanza
Mother of seven children, grandmother of nine, book author and lecturer and devoted companion to my best friend. After my children were grown and gone, after my life as a Navy wife and innkeeper was over I began a new life as a single grandmother, full-time gardener and writer. With a method I called Lasagna Gardening I created a new life as a lecturer and book author writing and talking about Lasagna Gardening and life. Actually I talked about my life both in and out of the garden and how I became a book author. My books and lectures took me on the road and I saw more of the world in a few years than I had in the rest of my life. My newest book, due out in 2009, is a "My Garden Doctor". It is a reprint of a book published in 1914 with a new forward and epilogue. Sharing my life and garden practice and inspiring others to write about their own lives gives me great pleasure. Author: Create Wonderful Gardens, Lasagna Gardening, Lasagna Gardening for Small Spaces, Lasagna Gardening with Herbs, My Grandmother's Aprons, My Garden Doctor.

19 comments:

  1. I bought your book and have been lasagna gardening for a few years now. My vegetable garden has improved so much. My soil is very sandy here. Every year I add more ingredients to keep improving the soil and I alway have a compost pile going. My problem is on my perrinial beds and strawberry bed. I still mulch them every year but I can see them sinking tremendously as the mulch breaks down. Can I heap on leaves and other ingredients or will I kill out the plants?

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    1. Well, if your strawberry bed is perrenial then you do have runners that you keep settling in so the runners can go on a somewhat higher level as the mother plants. Then either you pick and sell the motherplants or cover them up in the autumn of the second year and compost them. you can also do lasagna with green manure that you sow in between the strawberruies and you mow high late in the season. The mowings would keep your strawerry plants warm if it isn't too deep

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  2. I would like to know if when you plant tomatoes and cukes, do you plant them below the paper barrier or above the paper barrier? Contact me at swm333@windstream.net Thank you very much at your article is very interesting and with me and my bad back it would be a BIG help.

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    1. Oh well it depends on yoru climate In the South of France, tomatoes are planted as deep as possible (45 cm deep) and watered at the foot through a bottle. Water is scarce here and the warmth from the vegetables decomposing would keep the tomatoes warm allowing earlier planting

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  3. I read the article in Birds & Bloom March 2010. You say 12" of material on top of the ground. That's 1 foot tall. The picture doesn't look like the pile is 1 foot tall. How do the plants grow well if there is no soil? I thought the newspaper doesn't biodegrade for quite a long time. A friend of mine used this method to kill all the grass where she wanted to plant a garden. Left it on for a year and then took it all up to have no grass or weeds so she could plant in that space. Any more information would be helpful. Thank you.
    johasman@yahoo.com

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  4. I just ordered your book on small containers as I am ready to prepare 74 pots tomorrow morning :0. I'm terrible with plants but have 7 kids and am determined to save money on groceries. I'm hoping I can layer the containers the same way you've described in the Lasagna method and all will work. If I'm ready to enter the Twilight Zone, please email me donnas7kids@gmail.com. Can't wait till my Amazon order comes!!!

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  5. Patricia, I am a volunteer with a community garden. I manage the blog at www.growregina.ca which offers gardening tips and techniques to our gardeners. I have posted an article with your image and a link to your site promoting the lasagna gardening technique. I understand that your image is copyrighted and therefore request your permission to duplicate the image in the posting. Please visit our site to view the article, if you do not want us to use the image then I will remove it immediately.

    Karen Watkins, Chairperson
    Grow Regina

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  6. My wife is such a fan of your technique that she insists that we get you to speak at Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center in east Texas. How can this happen? mhoke@shangrilagardens.org

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  7. How many ways can I say how sorry I am to have let my messages go so long without answering? It's too complicated to explain but I will try: A lecture in TN, a road trip to NY/NJ to celebrate my daughter's college graduation and my 75th birthday, a trip to MS to give lectures to the State Master Gardeners, personal distractions and my gardens to tend to. I hope to be a better communicator in the future.

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  8. Answers to above questions: Re lecture in East Texas:I will be traveling to Dallas and Austin this Sept. for the Garden Writer's Association meeting and personal reasons however, I freguently book lectures in far away places. You can contact me at patlasagna@aol.com.

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  9. Karen, You have my permission to use my image for your blog and thank you for doing that. Contact me if you need an interview or statement at patlasagna@aol.com

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  10. donnas7kids, I do this all the time, lasagna gardening in containers, and I have 7 kids that I fed from my gardens. You are going to love this method. contact me at patlasagna@aol.com for help.

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  11. johasman, lasagna gardening in a nutshell: thick layers of wet newspaper on the ground, layers of organic material on top (how high depends on what you want to plant) pull the layers apart and plant. pull the layers back around the roots, water and get ready to put down more layers as the plants grow and the original layers decompose. No Digging, No Tilling, No Weeding, No Waiting, Hope this helps.

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  12. swm333. lasagna gardening: lay down paper, layer organic material, pull layers aside and set plants on the paper. if you go through the paper weeds will come up. for more information contact me at patlasagna@aol.com.

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  13. When your soil becomes so soft your plants seem to be sinking you have the best soil you will every have. keep layering organic material and push the rough stuff up under the leaves of plants to prop them up.

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  14. We would like to contact you about doing a program for the 23rd Annual Midwestern Herb and Garden Show Feb. 11th and 12 th in Mt. Vernon Ill. Times Square Mall. Are you avialable, what are your fees and etc.
    thank you

    Treasa Brookman. Co Chair
    tbrook@hamiltoncom.net

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  15. Hi Patricia, Could you contact me about being a speaker at an online summit we are organizing - its centered all around backyard food production. I would love to send you more details - it won't involve travel! That's the good news.
    Can you send me an email at
    media @ marjorywildcraft dot com

    I would sure appreciate it!

    Marjory Wildcraft

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  16. Enjoyed your book, but was disappointed and dismayed that there was no mention of the original and amazing Ruth Stout!

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  17. It should be noted that whilst ordering papers for sale at paper writing service, you can get unkind attitude. In case you feel that the bureau is trying to cheat you, don't buy term paper from it. doctor gardening

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