Book-Lasagna Gardening

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html
I saw this book for sale and didn't buy it, but lo and behold, a summary of it turned up in my first issue of Mother Earth News!  (April/May issue)  The summary is really all you need, because after the author (Patricia Lanza) describes the "lasagna method" she goes into the culture of various fruits and vegetables which you can get from Square Foot Gardening or any other basic gardening book.  I thought it might be of interest here because it looks like she is really uses the square-foot method but just builds the beds differently. 
 
In the fall, what she does is plot out square or rectangular beds with paths between, but she does not remove the sod.  She lays wet newspaper down over the desired beds, then begins a layering process, like lasagna. Between each layer of whatever organic materials she has around, she puts a layer of peat moss.  This goes on over months, as she adds compost, grass clippings, chopped up leaves, manure or whatever, with more layers of peat moss in between.  Over the winter it is supposed to break down into a lovely soil mixture, with perhaps 24 in. of material breaking down to a 6 inch raised bed.  (The paths are made with cardboard as the bottom layer instead of newspaper, with wood chips on top.) 
 
This appeals to me because right now I have 3 compost piles going, and turning sifting it is physically a bit hard for me.  And the piles don't look especially nice, either.  I figure it would be great to be able to lay out a bed with a cinderblock edge and just put the stuff into it directly that I've been putting on the compost pile.  It would just decompose in place, and I wouldn't have to sift it and lug it around.
 
Has anyone tried anything like this with success?
 
Erica 
 
 
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