Lasagna gardening comes to CBC Calgary

For the past several summers, the CalgaryEyeopenercrew has attempted to grow things at the CBC building just off Memorial Drive in northwest Calgary.

This yearwe haveteamed up with Kath Smythofthe Calgary Horticultural Society to try our hand at lasagna gardening.

It's dubbedlasagnagardening because you grow your favourite ingredientsfor the classic Italian dish. But you can also plant other things, such as flowers, to complete your garden.

We started by assemblingtwo raised-bed garden boxes on the lawn in frontof the CBC building.

Each boxmeasures 1.2 metres by 1.2 metres. The boxesare modular and easy to use.

Natural wood raised garden boxes

We're using cedar because it's a natural wood.

"You do not want touse pressure-treated wood in a vegetablegardenbecause you don't want the treatment they put into the wood to get into your plants and into yourvegetables," KathSmyth recommended.

Next, weput wet cardboard in the bottomto create a barrier between the soil we're putting in and the groundbeneath it.

Why cardboard?

"What will happen is the grass will suffocateunder there and gradually will become part of the garden, " said Kath. "Thecardboard we put it, because it 's nice and moist, itwill start to break down and create a bacteria to work with the soil."

Compost component

We then spread a compost mix over the cardboard tofill the box.We used compost so we wouldn'tneed to use a lot of fertilizer. Fertilizer will make your veggies taste funny, according to Kath.

We planted squash, carrots, radishes, kale, kohlrabi and a few herbs.

Oh, and we're trying a few pinwheels in our beds to keep those pesky squirrelsaway.Fingers crossed!

Kath Smyth's secret gardening implements includedchopsticks, a soup spoon and a paring knife.

Next time,we'll try plantingspeas, peppers and tomatoes.