I wouldn't use plastic in a lasagne bed. It's not necessary, it's not organic, and if it stays put for any length of time, it starts to fall apart and you end up with pieces of plastic to clean up (very tedious). It's liberating to make a lasagne bed and then forget about it. Or add more organic stuff on top as time goes on. You couldn't do that with plastic in the mix. What a silly idea, that sheet composting isn't green. I can't imagine the small amount of waste paper that is used for lasagne beds across America making much of an impact on the total amount of paper recycled. Then you have to consider - how green is using a rototiller or tractor? Or herbicide to kill weeds? How much energy do people use driving the paper to recycling centers? And I heard that most of the waste paper is shipped to China for recycling - how much energy is used to do that? I've been making lasagne beds and mulching with paper for several years now. It works great (although it's slow)! Guess I am a "lazy" gardener, but I use the time and energy saved to do something else - like eradicate invasive plants (which sux, I'd rather be digging a garden bed, lol.)

Personally I prefer to use black plastic for warming the soil. I've found it heats somewhat slower than clear, but it also doesn't allow weed seeds to start growing either. I usually lay it down about 2-3 weeks earlier that I plan to plant and the soil is warmed sufficiently enough. Also I normally cut holes thru the plastic to plant so the soil continually warms for a few more weeks. I'll remove it when I start laying down organic material for mulching about the fist week of June. I only use plastic mulch to warm the soil for: Melon, Pumpkin, Eggplant, and Okra so I can plant out between May 11-15th vs waiting the extra 2 weeks after the last average frost date has passed. One year all I had available was clear trash bags to use. I laid it over the hills I created for the melon. Within about 1.5 weeks I had well over 1,000 Amaranthus 'Intense Purple' seedlings literally covering the hills LOL! I took this picture while I was in the process of laying down mulch; as you can see I ultimately decided to allow some Amaranthus to stay, but many of the smaller ones ended up in the compost pile. No more clear plastic after that fiasco :O PS. How soon you want to lay it out will depend on your soil type. Soils having a lot of clay will warm up much slower than a sandy loam soil :)

Nate, It looks like you're ready for planting season to just go ahead and get here. Now, if only the weather will cooperate a little bit. I don't use plastic sheeting because it sheds water and I want the water, most years (2004 and 2007 being exceptions) at least, to soak down into the ground instead of rolling off. I do use weed block fabric in my tomato rows and have done so for many years. If you put your drip irrigation beneath the weed block fabric and mulch heavily on top of the weedblock (or the plastic sheeting) you'll be able to irrigate your rows of tomato plants without growing a multitude of weeds along with them. Just be sure that you promptly pull any weeds that pop up in the mulch on top of the weedblock. Otherwise, the weeds will root right down through the weedblock and you'll have a hard time getting them out. The weedblock doesn't guarantee no weeds, of course, but if you promptly remove any weeds that pop up on top of or beside the weedblock, you'll be able to keep that area weed free with relatiively little effort. I never would be able to maintain our large garden as well as I do without the use of weedblock fabric in some rows (generally those with plants requiring wider spacing but not in those with closely-spaced plants like beans). I also have it in all my pathways every year which further reduces the need to pull weeds. I hope you'll put mulch on top of the plastic once the plants are in the ground and growing. I mulch very lightly early in the season because I want the ground to continue to warm up to a point, but once the soil temperatures are getting hot, I cover plastic and fabric weedblock with mulch so the sunlight's heat won't roast the soil, earthworms and other beneficial soil-dwelling creatures i ncluding beneficial soil microbes.You can literally cook your soil in hot temps underneath black plastic if you don't put mulch on top of the plastic. With weedblock fabric, without a couple of inches of mulch on top of the weed block, weeds will get enough sunlight through the weedblock to sprout and grow and as they growth they will lift up your weedblock fabric somewhat. The wind here has been crazy all day but none of my weedblock has moved at all, and only some of it has mulch on it at this point, while other sections are completely bare because they aren't even planted yet. I do think the wind has dropped some this afternoon. This morning it was gusting in the upper 30s and low 40s. I'll be headed outside in a little while to cover up a few things with row cover (which I first learned about long ago from Dr. Cotner's excellent book) so they won't freeze tonight. If my forecast is correct, our temps won't actually drop low enough to damage the cool-season plants. But, we have dropped 5-7 degrees lower than forecast quite often this winter, so I'm going to cover up a few things just in case this is one of those nights. It is always better to be safe than sorry. Dawn

This seems like a silly question, but I just can't figure it out. You've actually got a pretty tough situation there, not a silly question at all. I'm from OH and live in AL now, so my experiences are in totally different areas but the basic principles are usually fairly universal. If any of my advice is impractical for your location in CA, I'm sure someone will point it out. I'm a newbie wanting to sheet mulch my front yard lawn. Do you intend to grow something besides grass there, or you just want mulch instead of grass so you don't have to mow anymore? Advice I might offer would be the same either way, but I'm curious. My little plots are somewhat small Plots - of grass, right? Its hard to tell in the pic, but the grass slopes somewhat steeply down to the sidewalk, I think that's from the base and roots of the tree maturing and rising. ...meaning anything I put there will most surely end up on the concrete. Do I put in edging and hope no one kicks it down so I can pile things inside? Should I dig the whole area out? Dig a trench along the borders? Any advice is appreciated! It's not usually possible, and almost certainly harmful to a tree to start digging around its' base on a large scale. The accepted general wisdom is that it's a very bad idea to pile (more than around 4 inches) a bunch of anything at the base of a tree (pretty much your whole yard.) If you were to trench around the borders, you would probably sever almost every large root holding this tree in place, making it unstable, dangerous, and eventually dead before its' time is due. It's hard to imagine a remedy that doesn't involve some type of containment border so I would consider bricks or some type of concrete pavers that can just sit on the surface and give you a "lip" of a few inches. You can smother the grass with cardboard which overlaps at the edges by at least 6 inches. Add about an inch of compost (if you want to add plants, not really necessary if you don't,) and about 3 inches of mulch. If you keep the mulch layer renewed when it dissipates from decomposition, your soil will become dark, rich, and well-drained over time. It's also necessary to maintain its' ability to suppress/prevent weeds. If you want to add plants, get small ones so you don't have to attempt to dig big holes through the tree roots. When I've started beds under large trees, the roots often determine plant placement if I encounter a big one. I find it easier to scratch with one of those bent fork things than to try to dig. It would also be good to investigate if your tree has any allelopathic (poisonous) properties that might prevent other plants from growing within its' dripline before you spend any money on plants.