Many garden centers sell inexpensive pH test kits. They're fun, and simplify all that pH stuff. Your manure and organic matter (and the life forms they support) will nudge it toward neutral over time, and it can be interesting to watch. Fall is the best time for serious liming. Permanent pathways provide habitat for earthworms, ground beetles, etc, and give you some access regardless of the weather. For temporary access to some areas, you also can lay boards on the ground and stand on the boards. If you planned to use your wheat as a cover crop, you'll need to take it down 2-3 weeks before you need the space, or you can pull it up and let it dry into mulch, or compost it. In mild winter climates, actively growing wheat does not go down without a little bit of a fight. Back to the permanent pathways. You can sow them with legumes and well-behaved grasses, and mow them to make mulch for the beds or rows next to them. It's a cool system. Picture it -- next year, a ribbon of crimson clover laced with blue bachelor buttons leads you to your beautiful [fill in blank] and you feel so happy! Here is a link that might be useful: my website

If the manure has been sitting around for a year, it is perfectly safe to use. It has in effect been composted over this period of time but the process is more like a static or cold compost. Despite what others would have you believe, it DOES contain nutrients and will make a very good amendment to any planting area. Unless you are able to ID the critters specifically as bad guys, I would not necessarily be overly concerned about beetles or their grubs being present. Most ground beetles are considered garden beneficials and these are also the types that tend to populate piles of dung or manure as well. Pill bugs tend to feed primarily on rotting organic matter - that's why they like your compost pile - but they can also eat the roots of tender young plants. I wouldn't be concerned about them either unless you see them in high numbers in your planting beds.

strouper2, if it was composted cow manure that you used, there should not be a problem. If it was not, you might still not have a problem if it was a very thin layer. Also, seeds usually need 'warmth' to germinate and the uncomposted cow manure might provide that. To be safe, water regularly (at least daily) and additionally on "hot" times of the day.

mad-gallica makes an interesting point about the depth of a lasagna bed. I always start with wet newspapers and I think they are essential to smothering weeds and grass. I start out building a bed right on top of old, thick sod which contains a lot of weeds. I need to have a deep bed otherwise some of the weeds come up through (usually a weed with runner roots that is growing outside the bed and sending runners into the bed). My first bed was built over a summer of gathering ingredients the first year we moved here and the house was being renovated. I only had time to work on a bed, not actually garden. It condensed by about half over the winter and got topped with composted horse manure that was practically dirt in the spring. It continued to sink over the years but I've used the beds for vegetables, not perennials. I assume they will settle in as the bed matures. If your goal includes smothering existing weeds/grass, then I think you need to put down the newspaper. I have a pile of old grass clippings and chopped leaves that occasionally sprouts a weed. If you just need to build some good compost and soil, then it might be fine as it. What I also want to point out is that I needed to dig a trench around the beds. Just enough angle and depth to discourage runner weeds from growing into the bed. They still try. I still need to weed but the trench also provides a gap for the lawn mower wheels. I use an edging spade or spading shovel to cut the trench. This has greatly reduced the amount of time I spend keeping the edge of the beds neat but every spring I do have to spend a lot of time re-cutting the edges. I have quack grass and creeping jenny that cause most of the problems. If you don't have runner weeds, you might not need the trench. What also reduced edge weeding around one circular bed was to edge it with pavers so the mower wheels can get close to the bed. Grass still tries to grow between the blocks but I no longer have a problem with the lawn invading the bed in full force.