You're a lazy gardener and you want to make compost, but you don't want to do a lot of work.
You can make compost that way, but you'll have to build the pile correctly.
The ingredients need to be layered in a certain order, like making a lasagna, so the pile decomposes without any help from you.
In a year it will be ready to use in your garden.
Here's how to make lasagna compost: Prepare the site.
Ideally you want your compost pile to be convenient to your garden but not out in the open for everyone to see.
Find a place for it that also gets sun for a few hours a day.
The sunlight helps to heat up the pile, which is essential for the compost-making process.
A good size for a compost pile is 3 feet by 3 feet.
You don't have to enclose it, but if you choose to, provide a way to remove one of the sides.
This will make it easy to remove the finished compost.
The enclosure should be make of mesh or fencing to allow air to get into the pile.
Wood slats can be used if space is left between them for air circulation.
Collect the materials.
You'll need green organic waste like grass clippings, pulled weeds and other garden waste, along with kitchen scraps including fruit and vegetable peelings and trimmings, tea bags, eggshells, coffee grounds and coffee filers.
 Do not include fats or oils, meat or poultry.
In addition to green organic waste you'll need dried brown organic waste.
These include autumn leaves, garden plants that are dried up at the end of the growing season, small twigs, wood chips, and/or shredded bark.
You can also use shredded white office paper or newspapers.
Finally you'll need some garden soil and a small amount of finished compost.
Layer the materials.
Begin by placing an even, 3 inch layer of green organic waste at the bottom of the compost bin or pile area.
Next shovel a thin, even layer of garden soil over the layer of green organic waste.
Sprinkle the soil with finished compost.
You don't need to sprinkle on a lot of compost, just enough to "seed" your pile.
Sprinkle it on as though you were adding a healthy amount of parmesan cheese on top of lasagna and didn't have to worry about counting calories.
Add a layer of brown organic waste on top of the soil and compost.
Spread it evenly into about a one inch layer.
Wet down the brown organic waste with your hose sprayer.
Don't soak it, but make sure the mixture is moist.
Shovel a thin layer of garden soil on top of the moistened brown organic waste.
Sprinkle with compost as before.
Continue layering until you run out of materials.
Alternate green materials with brown materials and put a layer of soil sprinkled with compost on top of every layer.
End with garden soil at the top of the pile.
Wait.
The compost will take a year or longer to fully break down, depending on the size of the materials you added.
In the meantime, spray the top of the pile periodically if rainfall is scarce.
Cover the pile with a plastic tarp if rainfall is plentiful as it can leach all of the nutrients out of the compost and into the ground.
That would be a waste.
A few weeks after building your compost pile, test out whether or not it is decomposing.
Drive your large garden fork into the middle of the top of the pile.
After a couple of hours, touch the metal on the garden fork.
If it is hot or even lukewarm, it means that your compost pile is successfully "cooking" the ingredients into black gold.
It should be ready in about a year.
Copyright Sharon Sweeny, 2009.
All rights reserved.