I use the layers of newspaper topped by shredded wood mulch or bark to make new beds (have done so with hostas and am working on a rosebed now).... it works great, just like Julie's variation in the garden with grass clippings. The grass clippings (or leaves) would be more suitable for use in a veggie garden. Mainly I just wanted to add that I found it worked as great for the hosta bed that I put in last fall as it did for Julie's veggie garden. I've added several plants to that bed this spring and the newspaper is mostly decomposed as is the grass that I put the newspaper right on top of. The ground is really nice under all that too, worked just great! I don't think that the shredded newspaper that you mentioned originally would work as well. When it gets wet, it mats down and makes a soggy mess (I know 'cause I threw a bunch of shredded newspaper that I received as packing material into the compost bin and that's exactly what happened to it there - great for composting but I don't think I'd want a layer of just that on top of my garden. Seems it would be more soggy mess then good mulch).

Dear Garden Guy, Thank you very much for your inquiry. This is always a good question. The way I like to approach this is to simply find out when the last application of herbicide was applied and then add four weeks. By this time you can be sure that the herbicide is no longer within the plant. (Research in this area showed the vast majority gone at two weeks, so four weeks is a very safe schedule.) Again, thanks for the question and let me know if you have more. Respectfully Trey Rogers The Yard Doctor

If you know any contractors, you could ask them. How much soil are you looking for? If you want it by the truckload, there's usually "aggregate" places where you can order a truckload of top soil. Glover in Hilo may sell topsoil by the truckload, they have cinders at least. We build raised bed gardens from cinder blocks. About three layers high, then we put down a layer of weed mat to keep any tree roots from coming in from below. Then pile in whatever soil we can get. I'll usually let all the weeds sprout up and then yank them out before they seed. But you can skip this part if you don't mind weeding for the first year or so of your garden. Then the top 10" of soil, especially the top 4" are the best soil I can get. There's usually amendments of oyster shell worked into at least the top ten inches as well as compost and rabbit manure since we have that. Rabbit manure is an excellent fertilizer, you can put it directly on your plants without the need for composting as you'd have to do for chicken manure. For the cinder blocks, we set them so we can reach into the middle of the garden. How long doesn't really matter, but being able to reach the center from the sides is pretty important, IMHO.

i decided to wait a little bit before doing anything, thinking maybe its just first gardener jitters, being jumpy at anything happening in the garden like some bugs running around. theres been a bit of a cold snap here in my region and i havent seen many bugs since to be honest. im attaching some pictures here of the plants. they seem good so far, no sign of nibbling or rot, yet. dave, i see your point with nurseries. i also felt like they were being partially dismissive as well but now i know better and next time will come to houzz to talk to gardeners instead. i wonder, since the seedlings look so nice if i should wait until spring planting season to take out rocks and mesh netting etc. also, does anybody have thoughts on fertilizer at this stage with the seedlings? i sprinkled a tiny bit when i transplanted the seedlings but wonder if i need to be feeding them more (have dr earth)? only the kyoto red carrot (CORRECTION: DAIKON LEAVES) leaves seem wilted at the ends and some of their smaller leaves are dying.(photo attached)