What you effectively have described is no-till gardening

Avajay, I'm sitting here (avoiding the mosquitoes), drinking iced tea, and LOL at your post. Not because you've said anything wrong but because I'm delirious thinking about what I still have to do in my own garden.

My best suggestion is to try not to bite off more than you can chew. Do as much as you comfortably can with composting/building soil, mulching, etc. but don't expect to get it all done this year. Maybe make a 5 year plan which you might or might not follow. BTDT I recommend chopping up the coarser vegetable matter fairly small for faster decomp. I'd avoid the plastic but that's just because I dislike the stuff so much. It could help hold in the moisture. I've started using sheets of old plywood to cover a couple of my compost bins as they were drying out too fast.

I'm foolishly thinking/planning on landscaping an area about 20 x the area you have which is the reason for my (mostly) hysterical laughter. I'm going to be making a lot of paths using thick layers of newspaper and wood shavings. Up til now we've used very few paths, lots of grass (lawn) and huge perennial beds. I've decided that this project will take time, lots of time. And lots of energy. And I'd better learn to live with those dang mosquitoes.

Stick around this forum as you'll get lots of ideas on building soil.

Oh, about the forest floor having nutritious material I agree, in fact it's on my to-do list to get out again in our forest and take a few samples from a lot of places to add to my compost. Should have some beneficial soil organisms there.

Joyce, I gotta say, I really enjoyed reading your post. It's so pleasant to realize there are others like me.

I urge caution, low expectations, and patience. Only plant corn if you want corn. The stalks and dead branches won't compost over the winter under black plastic. Corn stalks are very woody things, and to compost them in one year they have to be chopped and part of an ongoing pile, much like the dead branches.

Go for leaves. Find a nice tree lined subdivision in an old part of town, and find out their garbage day. Or, if you just notice garbage sitting out, make a note of the day. Learn to recognize the plump, uniform silhouette of bagged leaves--and for that matter, this summer, bagged grass. Inspect the yard for walnut tress and magnolias--skip those houses. If you have a Starbucks, hit that, too. BE BOLD. Think of pirate women, and snazzy cat burglars in Las Vegas movies. If you pass a jack-o-lantern on the street, pop the truck before you even start to brake. Might be a good idea to get a rubber maid tub back there. Around here, all the churches and banks put up some straw bale/pumpkin/cornstalk fall display. Volunteer to haul it away after Thanksgiving.

Dump all this booty onto your future garden site. Spare a bag or three of leaves and grounds to scatter over the lawn and mow over them in place.

It helps to be friendly, play the radio, and by all means if you see people smile, and call out what you're up to. A smile and a "I need mulch for my daylilies/roses/garden, do you mind if I take these" goes a very long way.

I picked up leaves from several bigger country houses, and I stopped and rang the doorbell for permission, so they wouldn't feel invaded. I got one very nice garden tour out of it (stopped myself from asking, Why the h*ll are you bagging all these leaves?)

Thank you takadi, luckygal and petalpatsy,

Takadi, yes, that's where I started thinking about doing my large lot with a modified lasagna system. I had 1st heard about no-till last summer. I worked front office of the local daily paper when a woman came in to see if she could obtain some old papers that we'd be throwing out anyway, explaining her garden plans with a system she was going to try called "lasagna". This spring I had trouble securing a tiller and my corn (I know, not supposed to start corn inside, but OH WELL) was getting tall in the peat pots. Googled, learned, didn't have all the layering amendments, just wanted to get the darn things in the ground. Dug little holes, added bagged compost and the seedlings, surrounded them with wet newspaper and straw. Darned if the little buggers didn't start growing. Color me proud yet astonished!

luckygal and petalpatsy, my bad. I wasn't clear on / failed altogether to mention a couple of things.

1.) I wasn't hoping for a totally changed yard by next spring. It was kind of an over-the-next-few-years thing that I had in mind. Sort of a "what can I do now, INEXPENSIVELY, to condition/amend the soil in my yard? If I don't need the space for anything important immediately, what can I grow here that will show a benefit in my soil down the line?" I know that 2, 3, maybe 4 years will be needed to show any noticeable improvement. I have no clear-cut plans for the space, but heck, I might want to put a Hawaiian-themed tiki garden there in a coupla years, and I can't see straw and newspaper as a fitting compliment to the MaiTais and the cute cabana boy.

2.) I would, of course, use my mower to chop/shred all materials except the large branches. Even if they were to decompose a little, I would just put what's left aside and throw them back in the following fall.

Luckygal, OOHHH them skeeters! Yup, I got 'em too. I didn't mention that my woods out back is really the slope-y banks of a creek that runs thru my town, called Sewer Creek. Yeah. Capital S, capital C. The city actually named it that, and it runs thru MY BACK YARD!! It contains the drainage from several, nay, HUNDREDS of upstream residences. And when it's not been raining lately, it just sits there. Stagnant.
Skeeters. My tiki torches WILL be citronella.
The plastic...not sure if I need it, but a certain area of this back lot is visible to a certain area of the street, although not by much. I figure, having squares of plastic anchored in my lawn says, "Hey, I'm doing something/fermenting something/growing/germinating/fill-in-the-blank something", whereas a field of stomped, overgrown, left-to-die foliage says, "I don't give a rat's patootie how my yard looks."
Oh, what does BTDT mean?

Petalpatsy, lots of good advice there, thanks. I already had plans to hit our local breakfast cafe for coffee grounds, and the grocery store's produce manager for veggies that they can't sell. Hadn't considered the bale-o-straw displays, that's a new one to me.
I had thought of ringing the doorbell at one house near mine, only to ask, "What is that breathtaking bush by your front door?" Seriously gorgeous, hasn't bloomed yet this year, but when it does, I'm goin' a-ringing'.
And I remember you...you're the nice gal that puts compost blankies over struggling earthworms. That's cool.

Joyce

BTDT=Been There. Done That.

Wait. This is a plan to help the soil for an area that will be a lawn?

I wouldn't do what you're suggesting.

I'd mulch mow every time I mowed, I'd mulch mow any leaves that fall (and collect leaves from others and mulch mow them also. I'd get coffee grounds from Starbucks and other coffee shops and spread them on the lawn. I'd call tree services and let them know that you want chipped wood if they'll deliver it free (most will because it saves them a tipping fee). Spread that on the lawn.

First Where in the world are you? Your USDA Plant Hardiness Zone would be of little use, but a general idea of where, such as "west central Michigan" would be of tremendous help in giving, some of us anyway, an idea of what type of soil you have, the growing conditions you will experience, rain, snow, etc.
Organic growing starts with your soil so dig in and learn more about what you have and what you need to do to make that soil into a good, healthy soil that will grow strong and healthy plants. Contact your county office of your state universities USDA Cooperative Extension Service about having a good, reliable soil test done so you know what your soils pH and base nutrient level is. Then dig in with these simple soil tests,

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 you 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.

Joyce, are you in Alabama????? Geeze, that could have been me walking into the local newspaper asking for papers! LOL!

Your other description of big weeds turning into small trees two years later hits home as well. I had an old garden bed that I had neglected that did the same thing...

Just to echo the other posters..it is all a process. And double ditto to the gathering of the leaves from the curbs. Read below about this experience...

Two years ago I weeded said bed (chopped trees, poured concentrated Round Up on the stumps so they wouldn't come back) and then started a "lasagna" garden...newspapers, cardboard, what layers I could put together (but were painfully thin), and purchased compost. Planted some squash, tomatoes, peppers, all which literally FRIED in the heat of that spot. They weren't planted deeply enough, there wasn't enough "lasagna" etc to really protect the roots and do what "lasagna" is supposed to do.

This year I read about Ruth Stout and hay mulch. I got some hay, mulched that bed pretty thickly and put some tomatoes in. We've had tons of rain until this past week. My tomatoes (in the hottest part of that bed) showed no sign of wilt yesterday..and I have not watered them this week.

In addition, I made raised beds with hay bales. It was the quickest, easiest way for me to know that I could get a decent amount of thickness to my gathered leaves and grass without having to build anything. (I started gathering the leaves in late winter, when folks started cleaning out from the winter. Beautiful chopped leaves, old grass. Then, as the grass started greening up, I got more stuff, now a nice mix of greens and browns. I've gotten about 75 bags or so of this..

In one of these smaller "hay bale raised beds" I planted some more tomatoes. (The grass/leave mixture is breaking down beautifully and it is cool and damp at the bottom.) As I was planting one, the top broke off. I stuck it into the "ground" next to the other one. It took root and is growing fantastically. Again, I've not added ANY WATER to this bed. Only what has come from the rain. (Will have to today, though.)

I also treated these beds with "Bug Juice" (see recipe below) to help the soil microorganisms and to help break down the leaf/grass mixture more quickly.

My hay is breaking down and it will be added back to those beds when it is completely done.

I haven't accomplished all I wanted to this spring but there is always fall planting season, which I'm going to do with a vengence. Until then, my leaves and stuff are breaking down great, and I've seen some mighty nice earthworms when I dig into it.

Maybe dividing your large area into a smaller area with haybales and filling that in with chopped stuff, leaves, grass, old vegetables, etc, will get you ready for next spring. Then, just add to that area with more haybales, and start filling that in...

Joyce, I enjoyed reading your post. Your butt does not look big in those jeans. (I too, often post for reassurance :-)). Some stuff other people have taught me on this forum is that you need at least about a 3:1 carbon-rich brown stuff to nitrogen-rich green stuff. So about 3 parts dead plants/dead leaves to about one part green lawn clippings, green weeds, etc. Maybe with thin layers, the supply of oxygen prevents smelly nastiness, but the right ratio should still help everything decompose faster. It might be helpful to keep 3:1 in mind when you do your rows. I'm not sure if you can just pile stuff up or if you need to mix it together in order for the decomp to happen. A bunch of thin layers would probably work the same way as mixing (not sure how high you'll stack stuff in your rows, but if you're stacking it pretty high I think you don't want like 9 inches of leaves with 3 inches of grass on top-- it would be better to have 3 inches of leaves, an inch of grass, then 3 more inches of leaves, another inch of grass, etc, so there is more contact between the browns and the greens). The lasagna people can probably tell you better. The plastic you may need to take on and off. If you have a long period of dry, it would probably be a good thing, to reduce water evaporation. If it rains a lot, it would probably result in a slimy, stinky mess underneath. You want the pile just damp, I think, not sopping.

Good luck :-)