Cult: Making soil in desert

More info on Lasagna Method of making soil in the desert on top of rock.



Over in Rimrock, AZ when I was building on fresh land, I went to commodities
and the boxes that they ship grapefruit in etc are the thickest
Cardboard. (Any cardboard will do though)
I lay that down then put the swamp cooler pad on top.
 then layer w shredded paper,
then another swamp cooler pad,
then dirt ( of various mixture as I talked about before).

Several reasons for this on fresh land.
I don't disturb the surface of the land which leads to erosion. (Been there
- done that)
Lets me established what I want to grow, rather than growing weeds.
If local weed seeds can't get light, they will die. (Beer boxes flatten will
work also)
I'm not wasting back and time w a pick ax trying to get rock out.
By then I've got iris growing on top of them and weeds don't have any space.

There's more reasons, but that's all I can think of at the moment.
If you have pine needles, that's always good to put down as first layer on a
slope of undisturbed soil. They also hold the original soil in place, long
enough for rest of stuff on top to "cure". Plus adds a little acid - I think
to our soil.
By the time iris have worked their roots down through all this, it's almost
bloom time.  And things have begun to break down while holding water.
Depending on rain,  this process is slower if you only let nature's water do
it's thing. If you can afford the extra watering it is worth it. (and if we
are not rationing water as we are now)

By the way, didn't even bother w pulling weeds, just put the cardboard on
top of them and smash, flatten them. Even if they are a weed, they are still
full of valuable sugar.  I kinda get the same feeling when I do this, as I
do shredding all the junk mail.

It's using something I already have and making it work for me in a different
way.

Linda in CW AZ

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