You may not believe some of the things that I've done in public places...

Nonetheless- a 1" layer of bark mulch on top would make it look like any other planting bed, and for pretty cheap as well.

Trash- LOL. If you want to make her feel better then you could stick with shredded leaves and grass clippings. Nothing "trash-like" about it.

I would say go for it. It is often easier to ask forgiveness than permission. :-) Put down cardboard first, then whatever is really messy looking. Say the old produce and a layer of horse manure or something if you can find some. Then put on whatever else, coffee grounds and leaves are sort of nice looking for the top layer. Can you just do it when the other woman isn't watching? Coffee grounds in particular look almost like soil if not viewed too closely.

Marcia

I don't quite understand why someone would object to organic practices?!?!
Hmmmm, maybe you could do your own compost (pile or tumbler), put it on the area and top it with wood chips.
It would be really cool to do your lasagne gardening and put up a little "readable" sign saying what is happening, that vege, lawn, leaves and yard waste is being used to amend this soil.
How bout your "partner" learning about some of this stuff???!?! HTH NT

Here's the thing about my partner on this:

She was the office garden-guru, then some 3 years ago, I decided to jump on the gardening wagon. Her many years of experience is not to be impuned, but it is my OPINION that she has a very closed mind on the "how-to" of gardening, and is not open to 'new' ideas. By this I mean that she's a few years older than me, and more experienced at it, but probably her knowledge bank is limited to what she's done, not necessarily what she may have 'tried' because it sounded neat (lasagna for instance...she's never heard of it. Her thoughts are that "Composting" is done in a bin or small heap, and is turned...and MUST be started with dirt in order to work properly...and CARDBOARD in the mix??!! You're kidding, right? (We won't mention the list of 141 items or whatever is floating around the net including, but not limited to urine, dryer lint, and other such 'nonsense.'))

So I think it's more 'old school' gardening than anything. That's not a bad thing, but it's like trying to teach new math...not likely to be widely accepted anytime soon.

So...all that aside, I'm hoping to simply load up the truck with OM, and heap it onto the site when she's not around (she's very busy, and I go up there on my lunch-hour to work). She also needs to 'schedule' time to go up there, whereas I just go up on a whim. So maybe I can pull it off this weekend when she's not looking. I understand that she has a new grand-baby as of 4pm today, so that's likely to take up her weekend.

A few years ago I was telling everyone that in my experience, if weeds are a problem it's a waste of time to use mulch without newspaper or cardboard under it. So some people I know approached a nearby park and offered to grow native plants in several unplanted (but weedy) areas. They got big sheets of cardboard and added several inches of mulch from tree trimmers. As plants became available (most donated or propagated from their own gardens), they were added. The project has become a huge success, and they are still expanding the to-be-planted areas by cardboarding (as they call it) and mulching during the dry season.

I probably wouldn't do lasagna gardening with produce-dept. discards at a public site, however. It's easier to get a free truckload of tree trimmings delivered to a site, and if critters do happen to get curious, they won't make a mess.

Show your skeptical gardening partner the mulch fact sheet on the horticultural myths website -- even the author was surprised at how effective mulching is, and she now recommends it as the first step in reclaiming a site. The study she cites showed that mulching had long-term positive effects and controlled weeds better than using poisons. This study did not mention the use of cardboard or newspaper, but I read another study (no longer on the web) that said a couple layers of newspaper was as effective in reducing weeds as 2 inches of mulch. My own experience, as I mentioned, tells me that adding a light-blocking layer of cardboard or mulch is crucial.
http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~Linda%20Chalker-Scott/Horticultural%20Myths_files/index.html

Here is a link that might be useful: list of hort myths