Lasagna gardening is simply piling up lots of organic matter on your soil, a different method of sheet composting, maybe even a really thick mulch. In the new section removing that grass means you are removing organic matter, all you need do is cover that grass with newspaper and a good, thick mulch and the grass will die and feed the soil bacteria. Along with the grass, attached to the roots, would be some "topsoil", the soil you want in your garden. Aside from compost and other forms of organic matter what you may need to add will depend on what your soil needs and the only way to know that is with a good, reliable soil test that tells you what your soils pH is and what the balance of nutrients would be. Given that our water supply today is polluted with Nitrogen and Phosphorus it is even more important that organic gardeners get their soils tested and not simply throw more nutrients down. In addition these simple soil tests can be helpful,

1. Structure. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. A good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top.

2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up.

3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart.

4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer your soil will smell.

5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy.

Agreed dont pull the grass way to much work. It only takes about an inch of material over the newspaper to kill "most" grass. You should ask this again in the compost forum.

"more organic matter" isn't always the answer to a drainage problem. I remember one garden that was built with topsoil from a peat bog down the hill and volcanic ash, drained at lightning speed but easily had 35% organic matter.

Bogs, fens, swamps are not good examples of good drainage and they do have a lot of organic matter in them. Too much. But aside from a bog, fen, or swamp most all soils do not drain well because they are compacted, the soil particles bind too tightly together and will not allow water passage, hence adding organic matter, which opens up that tightly vound soil, will allow water to flow more freely. However, since it takes several years for soils to get into that condition it will also take some time for correction to happen, it will not be overnight.

I would suggest that you look into using the "Interbay Mulch" technique as well (gardenweb faq link below) - it could be what you are looking for. I am trying it this year on some new ground - seems to be working well so far - I am using old cotton fabrics instead of burlap.

Best of luck to you!

Here is a link that might be useful: http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/soil/2000081841014638.html

That probably would have been Jon Rowley who was the coordinator at one of Seattles community gardens many years ago and a regular contributer here back then. However that is more a method of making compost to be use as mulch then a mulching method itself.

'Interbay' is a neighborhood in Seattle and that method requires adequate rainfall and moderate temps, which is the hallmark of Seattle and there you can throw a paper bag on the ground and two years later you have a tree, so caveat compostor. [/wild exaggeration to make a point]

Nonetheless, limestone soils need compost and acid and you'll have to decide how to get your pH down and get some tilth in there, you can pay for it now or compost, work, and wait.

Dan

so can i continue just throwing my stuff in to my garden bed.

it decomposes quickly so that shouldnt be a problem and what about fish scraps from a fish market.

Yup. Fish is fine too. If you are an animal lover, you'll love your new friends and visitors if you do this often.

Dan