As we set out to expand our gardening space this spring, I assumed that I would continue creating a sheet mulch or lasagna garden, slowing adding layers of organic material to build soil without disturbing its layers.  You see, as someone who studied and taught ecology for many years, I know that organisms live where they live for specific reasons.  Soil is really a complex habitat for billions of organisms that thrive in their unique layers.  Turn over or till those layers, and you run the risk of disturbing these organisms, and they cannot do their work of building soil quite as effectively. But the reality is that I ran out of steam layering cardboard, straw and manure. Spring is … [Read more...]