I am relatively new to organic farming. I want to try a method called lasagne gardening for my vegetables. It involves layering newspapers and compost. Any advice?
Carol Ann

Go to your public library and read Patricia Lanza books on "Lasagne Gardening". It will greatly get you started in understanding the basics about no-till gardening. There are several ways to do it today, for small home gardeners to large farm size soils.

I like to just put a few sheets of paper or newspaper straight on top of the lawn or virgin soil, then layer sheets of greens or browns on top of that. If the ground is not weedy or grassy, you can actually skip the paper layer step.

I also like to use fresh horse manure/sawdust from the equine clinic as my first weed suppressing layer, all over my larger beds, then just use several inches of undone compost on top of that for my no-till beds. Then I just put my best mature compost in the spots where I'll be growing the crops.

I always put about 1-2" of rich garden dirt or mature compost on top of the greens/browns layers, to guarantee good seed gernination. Then I can start planting the same day. Some people prefer to skip the "top good dirt layer" step, to wait a few weeks and then plant. Both methods work fine.

Seeds need good finished dirt or mature compost to germinate. However, most transplants can grow fine through the browns/greens mulch as it decomposes all season. By the end of the year, all the lasagne mounds will shrink down to topsoil. I've seen 12-14" mounds shrink to 1-2" mounds after 6-9 months in my zone on my no-till beds.

Hope this helps.
Happy Gardening!

You might also think about getting yourself a Japanese knife style weeder, also called a horey-horey, to facilitate easy removal of weeds that do pop up.
I think all the Redenta's now have them in stock.
Tony M