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Photo by Allison Gromacki
I am so delighted to have my first guest post! Thirteen year old Conner is sharing his science project experimenting with different types of soil. The soil for the lasagna garden in his project was from my garden. I’m so pleased to share his results. Conner, you did a fantastic job!
For my seventh grade science fair project I did an experiment to see which soil types would be the best for gardening. The soil types that I tested were lasagna soil, topsoil and compost, compost soil, manure solids, compost, and manure solids mixed with compost. I planted tomato seedlings and burgundy bush beans seeds into several plastic shoeboxes.
My question at the start of this project was, which soil type would produce the most growth? My hypothesis was that the lasagna garden soil would produce the most growth in the plants.
I planted thirty burgundy bush bean seeds (6 per container). At the second week, I saw the first sprout, in the lasagna garden soil. Unfortunately, at the time, they were on the ground and it was eaten by an unknown animal. A few days later, I started to see the other seeds sprout. The beans in the lasagna soil grew the fastest.
I also planted five tomato seedlings. The compost & manure mixture plant grew to be the tallest. However, the lasagna plant was more full and produced more tomatoes.
Other thoughts - I noticed that the two compost soils had more weeds, however that is probably because of the things that were originally put in the compost, and that may differ between gardeners. I also observed that the lower leaves at the bottom of most of the plants were yellow, however, the leaves at the bottom of the lasagna plant were not. I believe that this is because the lasagna soil retained more moisture that the other four soils.
The jars contain the water runoff from each plant/container. Lasagna runoff is on the far left (darkest).
When I watered the plants I saw that the water color coming out of the container was different depending on the soil type. The lasagna runoff was a dark brown color, while the topsoil runoff was a very light brown. I believe this discoloration is due to the amount of nutrients in the soil, and may be why the lasagna was the darkest of all of them.
In conclusion, the lasagna garden was the most successful and has produced the highest yield. I would highly recommend lasagna gardening to other gardeners.
PS The tomato plants are growing like weeds in raised garden beds.
PPS The burgundy bush beans were disgusting, in my opinion. 
Burgundy Bush Beans
This is the plant grown in lasagna soil!
Recommended Reading: Lasagna Gardening by Patricia Lanza.
Shared at: Morristribe’s Homesteader Blog Carnival, Monday Mania, Homestead Barn Hop, Fat Tuesday, Teach Me Tuesday, Hearth and Soul, Tuesday Garden Party, Living Green, Wildcrafting Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday, Frugal Days Sustainable Ways, Rural Thursday, Simple Lives Thursday
Great job, Connor! What an interesting study! Wish you had included mushroom soil, which is what we used this year! Maybe next year.
Also, the photos are superb!
What a fun post, Susan! Thanks so much.
Sorry…Conner.
Magnificent science project……!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Conner,,,,great work!
I love it – I’m not a bean fan myself, but I will try (just about) anything to get my tomatoes to grow well! Thanks for sharing!
Wow, that was a great science project! It’s so exciting to see a young person involved and interested in growing things. It might even help you like vegetables better!
What an excellent, well thought out and well written post, Conner! Thank you for sharing your science project and it’s outcome, along with some great tips for gardeners! (And I’m not so keen on purple beans either…)
Great report on the science project. I really love to see when young people do science projects that actually have a useful result. Thanks for sharing.
Great job! and very interesting.
Great info…very interesting and well done project.
Would love to know what you items you used to build your lasagna garden soil in your shoebox?
Kathy
I dont actually know the answer to that question since i got the soil from susan, but i’m sure you could ask her.
Here’s how I build a lasagna garden: http://learningandyearning.com/2011/04/20/lasagna-gardening/
What a great project! I love this idea and I am so glad you posted about it! Note to self: try lasagna gardening next year!
Thanks for sharing at Living Green Tuesdays!
He is amazing! Wish he’d come work on my garden soil, I need some help!
Way to go Conner our future is in good hands I see. Great project congratulations and thanks for sharing. B
Well done Connor! Do you have your own blog? If so, I’d love to follow you! xo
no i do not have a blog, but i appreciate the compliment thank you!
Great job and congrats on a very thorough experiment!
Awesome post! Good job Conner!
Thanks for sharing on Wildcrafting Wednesday.
~ Kathy
Just wanted to say a huge “Thank you” to Susan for all of her help!
A) Earlier this year, she agreed to be my “gardening mentor”, answered nuuuumerous questions, and gave us a tour of her in-town gardens. *Which is what led to Conner’s interest in gardening.
And then B) She generously gave advice and the lasagna soil, for the project.
Without you, we’d have had a non-edible project.
As it is, we literally can’t keep up with the tomatoes!!
Thank you!
-Kim, aka Conner’s mom
You’re so welcome, Kim. I didn’t know that the tour was the inspiration for Conner’s interest in gardening! Yay!!!!! You should be very proud of him!
What a great post, a great project, and what a cutie! I loved this one Susan.
I know; he’s so great. I heard it through the grape vine that his project was the best of everyone’s and that he really took it seriously.