Page 12 RAIN November/December 1984 WE:LL- LAYERE'.:(7 bAR.oe N FROM: Oesig11i11g and Pla11ti11g Your Edible Landscape © 1983 ROBERT KOURIK The Recipe _You start without tilling, right on top of whatever is there already-lawn, weeds, bare soil. First, apply a one-time application of organic fertilizers-slow-release rock powders such as colloidal phosphate and granite dust, which nourish strong growth for years". If necessary, balance the pH with lime for acid soils or sulphur for alkaline soils. Now, add layers of raw mat.erials (leaves, clippings, manure, hair, sawdus( and so on}, mixing the layers to achieve a carbon-to-nitrogen ratio of between 20 and 30 parts carbon to one part nitrogen. If the ratio is less than 20, you have surplus nitrogen. Be.cause nitrogen is less stable than other nutrients, it will leach out of the root zone or leave as a gas unless. you add materials high in carbon, such as leaves. If the number is above 30, add a nitrogen-rich material such as manure to adjust the ratio. If you start on top of dense sod, the first layer should be manure, because fibrous material needs more nitrogen to decompose. Put down as many layers as you have the time or materials for. The result is like a flat, mini-compost pile, which is why this method is called sheet composting. . The beauty in wild edibles is their taste, nutritional superiority, and ease in growing. Some wild edibles are as· tasty _and succulent as lettuce. · Some of the ra\.'V materials you use will be full of seed. Left to sprout, these renegade seeds may out-compete the plants you're trying to establish. To smother them, put down a layer of newspaper or cardboard. This same biodegradable weedkiller helps to make sure no noxious weeds survive that were originally present. The newspaper and cardboard are temporary barriers. In a season or two, when they're no longer needed, they will have decomposed, and even added a small amount of organic matt'er and nutrients to the soil. The ni.ore vigorous the lawn or native plants below your layered,garden, the thicker the sheet compost and the paper layer needs to be. Five to fifteen sheets of newspaper or one to three sheets of cardboard are usually sufficient, but you should experiment with the thickness. Be sure to greatly overlap the edges to prevent vining, runner-rooted plants from twisting up through the layered sheets. Try ' soaking the newspaper briefly, or soak the cardboard for an hour or so-it makes layering them easier. The safest · paper to use is plain stock or paper printed only with black ink. In black ink, the color comes from carbon _ black-fancy soot (lead-based pigment is too expensive to use for black). Other colors of ink may contain toxic elements such as lead, cadmium, and mercury, which can be absorbed by your plants. Heavy metals never degrade into harmless materials. Especially avoid the yellow and red inks, because they are more·toxic than other inks. You won't be able to use most of the pages from Mother Earth News in your garden. Nobody wants to look at a ratty landscape littered with the Sunday paper, so be cosmetic. Cover the layer of gaper with a "seed free" mulch. Compost prepared by the hot method, where temperatures of 140°F to 160°F are generated through the pile, ordinarily will have very few viable seeds. If you make your own compost, avoid adding plants that have mature seed heads and plants that have vigorous running roots, such as periwinkle, crabgrass, and ivy. To be lazy, skip compost. Each region of the country has various seed-free materials. Some materials that could be used for the mulch layer include leaf molds, wood chips, salt hay, sand, straw, sawdust, seaweed, ·and lawn clippings.
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