No, I lay the cardboard right on the ground. Once it is there, rainfall, irrigation and all kinds of little critters will break it down pretty quickly. You can cut it to fit between plants, using the biggest scissors you have or a box cutter knife. I can't imagine trying to shred it. If you're worried rainfall or irrigation will be repelled and won't make it to the ground underneath, you needn't be. Cardboard absorbs moisture pretty quickly and doesn't impede water absorption in the ground underneath. Cardboard is the best soilbuilder I've ever found as it attracts all sort of decomposer-type insects and everything they decompose and then excrete from their bodies helps build and improve your soil. Earthworm castings (that's a fancy name for Earthworm poop_ are very expensive to buy but they're great for improving soil...and that's one reason we all like to encourage earthworms, because they'll give us an endless supply of earthworm castings.

most of those aren't native plants. The native ones that I recognise are: Ajuga reptans; Casuarina nana; Grevillea 'Molonglo'; Myoporum parvifolium; Rulingia hermanniifolia; Scaevola aemula; Scaevola albida; Scleranthus biflorus; I've never had much luck with scleranthus, neither in Canberra nor Melbourne. It seems to died from under watering and over watering too easily. Investigate your council tip and see if they have big piles of old chipped garden waste. As long as it is dark brown and doesn't have any obvious weeds growing in it,it should be find to use as a soil conditioner. You can probably pay someone to deliver a truckload of the stuff for a tuppence and spread that out. Avoid fresh mulches like woodchip or pine bark, as they are loaded with tannins which stunt growth, and pull the nitrogen out of the soil. Another possible mulch is road metal, which is cheap, readily available and looks quite interesting (to me, anyway). You can usually get blue metal (a kind of basalt) or granite. Canberra should also still sell 'granitic sand', a form of decomposed granite which makes a dense layer (though often contains a fair amount of clay). Start saving those newspapers!

Hazel, I'm so glad you posted this! I'm in the exact same boat. My front north-facing flower bed is only about 4' deep and gets late afternoon sun for about 2.5-3hrs in late summer. You girls have given me some great ideas! Currently I have a ton of Hostas, hueschera, painted ferns, and I always add begonias or pansies depending on the season. I also love astilbe! And I'm hoping to add Lily of the valley and some hellebores when I get a little spending money! (Those plants are pricey!) Lisa, if you are offering Lily of the valley plants I'll be happy to give them a great, loving home! I'm bringing tomatoes and peppers to the SF, and hopefully some other flower starts like yarrow, and toothache plant. The plants are the easy part, now what food to bring! You girls are making me nervous about picking up chicks tomorrow. Edmond is voting to legalize "urban chicken" next week so I'm jumping the gun, but free-ranging doesn't sound very safe for my plants lol guess I'll be building a larger run than I planned ha

When we can manage to find some time, we're going to run the rocks down the right side of the deck too. We're hosting a graduation party on the 24th, so we've got a million irons in the fire! Over the weekend I just happened to stop into a local greenhouse and they had 1 pot with 4 tiny "Oddity" Sempervivum - I was super excited, I've been looking for it! Now I have to figure out where it's going to go - probably down that right side when it gets done.