Lasagna Gardening for Small Spaces: A Layering System for Big Results in Small Gardens and Containers (Rodale Organic Gardening Books) [Paperback]

Patricia Lanza (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 12, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0875968864 | ISBN-13: 978-0875968865

Now you can create the garden of your dreams, no matter how limited your growing space is. Pat Lanza's proven lasagna gardening method produces amazing results in pots and small plots. Even in beds just 4 inches wide, you can grow bountiful, beautiful gardens with no digging, no weeding-- no kidding!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a timesaving approach to gardening that will come as welcome news to the overworked and the horticulturally challenged."--Publisher's Weekly

"How-to for gardeners who love to grow but would rather avoid a lot of digging, tilling, or weeding."--The Los Angeles Times

"If you are a busy person with no extra time to give to the garden, you will greatly enjoy Patricia Lanza's practical way of doing things in the garden."--Richmond Times-Dispatch

From the Publisher

Now you can create the garden of your dreams, no matter how limited your growing space is. Pat Lanza's proven lasagna gardening method produces amazing results in pots and small plots. Even in beds just 4 inches wide, you can grow bountiful, beautiful gardens with no digging, no weeding--no kidding!

Praise for Lasagna Gardening

"...a timesaving approach to gardening that will come as welcome news to the overworked and the horticulturally challenged." --Publisher's Weekly

"How-to for gardeners who love to grow but would rather avoid a lot of digging, tilling, or weeding." --The Los Angeles Times

"If you are a busy person with no extra time to give to the garden, you will greatly enjoy Patricia Lanza's practical way of doing things in the garden." --Richmond Times-Dispatch About the Author

Patricia Lanza was born in Crossville, Tennessee, where she learned lessons about gardening and life from her hardworking grandmother.

Later, with seven children and a career Navy husband to care for, Pat found refuge in gardening. Bountiful harvests fed her family and nourished her soul. After her husband's retirement, a country inn kept Pat busy for another 14 years. During that time, she discovered lasagna gardening, her secret to doing and having it all.

Today, Pat continues to reinvent herself. Lasagna Gardening for Small Spaces reflects Pat's life after the inn and in compact living and gardening spaces. Her latest adventure includes The Potager, a gift shop, cafe, and garden center, in Wurtsboro, New York.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Rodale Books (January 12, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875968864
• ISBN-13: 978-0875968865
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #353,030 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Patricia Lanza was born in 1935 in Crossville, Tennessee to teen-agers George and Mamie Neal. An only child for eight years, Pat spent her early formative years with three loving grand-parents while her parents worked in Detroit, MI.

When her parents divorced Pat stayed with her mother and they moved to Jacksonville, FL. By age 15 Pat was married and by age 27 would have 7 children. She and her military husband worked hard to raise their family and get them through school. After his retiement Pat and her husband moved to New York's Catskill Mountains to own and operate a country inn.

It was there, in the rocky soil of the Catskills, with little time or energy to spare for gardening, Pat learned to make gardens without digging, tilling or weeding. She called it "lasagna gardening" and the results of using this method got noticed.

A newspaper publisher asked Pat to write a weekly column, garden clubs asked for lectures and then for a book. Pat's first book, self-published in three months, "How to Create Beautiful Gardens" came out in 1995. Pat continued to write for the weekly and also wrote for a daily with 750,000 readers.

Legendary publisher Rodale Press took notice and signed a contract for Lasagna Gardening, No Digging, No Tilling, No Weeding, No Kidding! Published in November of 1998 it took home the Garden Writer's of America Quill and Trowel Award in 1999. Pat went on to write Lasagna Gardening for Small Spaces in 2002 and Lasagna Gardening with Herbs in 2004.

Pat doesn't sit on her laurals and has continued to work as she nears her 75th birthday. Her latest work is a re-print of a book she bought at a yard sale: "My Garden Doctor" by Frances Duncan. First published in 1913 it is now in the public domain and out of print. The story is inspiring and worth being reprinted so others can read it and Pat loves it.

In addition, Pat is working on a book "My Grandmother's Aprons" to come out in 2011 or 2012. It is preceeded by a CD with Pat telling the first fourteen pages of the story of her own grandmother's aprons and what she did with them. The book will be a collection of other's memories of their own grandmother's aprons and illustrated.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

112 of 114 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The book I've been searching for . . . June 29, 2003

By Erin VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Finally, a gardening book that doesn't assume you have acres of land and a barn full of expensive equipment--or that you have the money to go out and buy them.

For three years I've been limited to a small balcony, after having lived my life with a large garden. Instead of going through gardening withdrawals, I decided to fill some containers with soil and see what I could grow. I've learned a lot through trial and error, but I've also been on the lookout for a good gardening book that could give me some encouragement and some fresh ideas. "Lasagna Gardening for Small Spaces" is that book.

I found Patricia Lanza's book to be extremely practical and down-to-earth. Even if you don't use her "lasagna" method to create your garden, you can still benefit from her advice about maximizing any small space you have to work with. The basic idea is if you don't have room to grow out, then grow up! And she's not just talking about flowers. She shows how easy it is to grow satisfying crops of just about any vegetable or fruit in tiny plots of land and containers. And she shows how to do it without spending any money. This book is peppered with ideas about how to use things we might consider to be trash as decorative containers, plant supports, and garden tools.

I was especially impressed with the section on pests and disease. Not only does she explain organic remedies for pest and disease problems, she spends time describing simple, natural ways to prevent pests and diseases from even becoming a problem, including a list of plants that attract beneficial insects (so you don't have to spend money to buy eggs or larvae from a catalog).

Perhaps what I am most grateful for in this book is its fearlessness. If the only space you have is a few containers on a balcony, Patricia Lanza doesn't tell you to buy some nice impatiens from the nursery--she tells you to grow an apple tree! If you've been discouraged by the typical container gardening book--you know, the kind that tells you to go out and buy a ridiculously expensive decorative pot and fill it with flashy annuals from the nursery--then give this book a try. Hopefully it will give you the courage to grow a satisfying garden--flowers, vegetables, and even fruits--with whatever space you have to work with, even just a few pots on a balcony, like I have.

51 of 52 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars ... February 1, 2004

By sasha_

Format:Paperback

This book has received a lot of mixed reviews, so I just wanted to say: I liked it.

It's true that it's not perfect. I find that few gardening books are universally ideal. This one is oriented towards sunny locations, and it has the flaw that many small-space gardening books have--the small-space seems to get bigger and bigger until it seems like we're talking about a fair-sized garden. Also, there are tons of personal details, really to excess. And one hears a great deal about the writer's current garden/shop/restaurant, much more than is interesting. Another reviewer suggested that perhaps it'd be more interesting if there were pictures of this place, and I agree, that might be a good idea.

Nevertheless, there were some great tips in here. Lanza takes the approach that you can be very ambitious even if you have a small garden, and that suits me very well. So she points out, for example, that climbing plants and vines are a great way to use every bit of space for spectacular effect. She also has lots of little suggestions; I found especially useful the idea of storing tools etc in tupperware/sweater boxes, tucked away. Also, her description of layering compost etc in the containers was useful to me.

It's true that little in this book is original, but then, originality is not usually the strength of gardening books. Somebody somewhere almost always knows the same techniques. It's a matter of presenting things in such a way that they are helpful to the reader.

I guess I would recommend trying to get this book from the library first--as I would with most gardening books. It has some great qualities, but it's not perfect, and it's worth making sure that it's useful to you personally before buying it.

72 of 86 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars vague and climate-specific June 24, 2003

By Kimberly Smith VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Allow me to be blunt. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.

Pat Lanza gardens in upstate New York. If you don't live in a similar climate, half the book (plant recommendations) isn't going to apply to you. If you want info on in situ composting (which is what she does-- it's not her own original idea, and it's not her grandmother's either), look for books by Ruth Stout (whose books on this topic have been in print since the 1950s) or pursue info on the InterBay Mulch method from Seattle.

There are no pictures of her garden in this book, despite the fact that she spends tons of time describing what her gardens are like and how she created them. I can't remember gaining any really helpful info on pests, composting decomposition, small garden planning, or landscaping techniques, either.

Doesn't sound very helpful, does it?