It can be very easy to put your worries to the back of your mind in a garden, that's for sure!

If you can, see if you can involve your husband, too. Lots of men have thought 'gardening's for girls' then discovered a passion for growing seeds, or orchids or cacti or bonsai and 'the girls' are darned lucky if they can get a windowsill to themselves!

For the edging for your bed - use untreated wood. Even six inch poles from the tree pruning people (unless they offer you willow or something else that resprouts overnight!) You could also use stones, bricks, actual square bales of straw or lucerne hay if that is available in your area.

Ordinary meadow hay can be a mixed blessing, though, because it can bring in weed seeds. However, over the season it will also break down and add goodness to your garden.

Weird as it might sound, if you could come by the base for a water bed, that would get you started (and the neighbours would get a giggle!)

About the soil from the landscaper: be very cautious. If you know exactly where the company gets its soil, you know it's free of tough weeds and is unlikely to have been polluted in any way, you could...but you'd need plenty of humus material, too. Can you get old mushroom compost? Or henhouse litter - sawdust or straw? Or stable manure?

If you know your local sources of that sort of material use antibiotics, you might want to give it a miss. It can take ages to break down because those medications kill good bugs, too.

Another good but slow to rot source is tree-prunings that have been put through the chipper. And if you know, can get to know, people who do yard work commercially, you may have a source of grass clippings you can mix with more woody stuff and leave to 'cook' for six to twelve months so the weed seeds are killed off (mostly).

Be a bit wary about restaurant leavings unless you have a tough kitty or a quick dog because rodents will come from anywhere for the snacks. Putting it through a covered compost bin will be cleaner.

Check out the Square Foot Gardening site, too. The principles they use are pretty much the same as you use for lasagne gardening, and, unless you are sending food parcels to the kids, if you plant traditional rows you'll end up with gluts of stuff you get fed up with putting up.

If you love canning and freezing and want to grow to fill the larder you'll need to set up your garden differently from if you want to produce enough fresh food for the day's salad throughout the year - and put in paths that will get you to the garden and back without vanishing into mud in the wet seasons.

Another thing - if you've got a friend who'll come and work with you even once a week or so, and you can help in return, it's easier, somehow. You've got someone to brag to, jobs get done without noticing, there's someone else to share ideas with and trade seeds/seedlings. If there's a local gardening club, go along a few times to see what they're like, and what's offered. Even if it takes time to get to know people, you'll be able to make good use of the 'sale table' - and pick the brains of the person on duty.

As you can see by the length of this thread, gardeners enjoy sharing information and plants with others. I hope you come to know that first hand.

Dear Vetivert
This morning i woke up to see that someone out there did see my post. I was so exicited - to read and learn what I need to do...I copied your post and am going to start this week. Don't know about the friend helping but if all else fails - am going to do what i can to start my garden. I send blessings from my house to yours for helping me....the worst that could happen is that nothing grows and at least i gave it my best shot.

Thanks again - Debbie

Dear Debbie
The worst that can happen is that you reclaim your courage and happiness and acceptance of the ways of life. They happen in gardening too. Roaring successes and dismal failures, and things that make you wonder why? How? What if?

There was a woman in Australia, Esther Deans. She was forever at the doctor's and so was fed up with herself. She turned to gardening and did what she terms 'no-dig gardening' - just like lasagne. A little old lady who lives alone.

Pictures of her garden show it to be not exactly park-orderly but it is rampant! And she's gone on to win prizes for her flowers and produce at her county fairs.

Even if you're growing veggies, pop in some flowers for the bees, the birds, and the vase, too. And they soften the heart, I find. It's hard to frown at a big floppy sunflower!

Happy spring, Debbie! And good gardening. If you're stuck, head over to the 'New to Gardening' site. Heaps of people will be glad to help you out. NO question is 'too dumb'. Promise.

Hi, Debbie!

It's been almost a month since you posted, and I wondered how you were doing?

Vetivert's suggestion about getting your husband involved is a good idea. Gardening is a good, mild exercise, and it helps take your mind off your problems.

Another material you can use for mulching/lasagne in your beds is alfalfa pellets. Just mix them in & they will break down, adding nitrogen to the soil. The 'rules' for lasagna gardening are really just guides. Mother Nature has been composting for thousands of years, and she does it just fine. Anything that came out of the garden can go back into the garden & will compost.

Sharing can be a big help. You might consider calling your local senior center and asking if they have a nice lady who likes to garden that doesn't have the space (maybe lives in an apartment?), and you could share the flowers and vegetables.

I'm doing the lasagna bit too, as my soil is very rocky. I'll layer it on & let the worms do my tilling!

Sue

Debbie, remember that your husband needs to keep active too especially since he's had a heart attack unless it was so severe he was told not to. Helping you in the garden will be good for him if you can get him interested. My husband had quadruple bypass and he helps me some even tho he does tire more easily. I have congestive heart failure but if it weren't for my gardens I think I would be suicidal by now. Good luck, you've chosen a great hobby that will keep your mind off things and delight you.

I made a huge lasagna bed a couple of years ago and I used old cardboard boxes, then piled on some peat moss and manure and finished with store bought manure topped by pine needles. I didn't put a border at all around it but keep it chopped back with the hoe and weedeater. It sure made my soil easier to dig and much more productive.
Nancy