Really?

I just till mine up and sort out the grass clumps. Sounds reasonable, who want any of that pesky grass anyways...

Its called lasagna gardening...edge garden, put on wet newspappers (at least 8 thick) and overlap the edges 4 inches or more. Then you layer organic materials like in a lasagna, shredded newspapers, leaves, compost, manure and dirt. You should have the layers very thick. You are suspose to wait to plant but I always plant rightway. If I want a shrub in it I dig the shrub hole first and line it with newspapers then I can just drop in the shrub.

Cool ... I bet this keeps the weeds down for a while at least.

It is important not to discard the lawn because that contains the best soil, the top soil. Instead of doing the Lasagna way, you can also spade the lawn and turn it over exactly. It is good exercise, can do it over several days.

I've done all my beds this way, right on top of the lawn. I just mow the lawn as short as I can first. This last summer instead of newspaper I used cardboard. Just the plain brown corrugated type. I used big pieces like you find on appliances and such. Overlapped about 8 or so inches and threw all my lawn mower shredded falls leaves and lawn clippings on top of it. It's a 5' by 60' or so strip. Couldn't afford to bring in a truck load of soil in this year so I just planted directly in last falls leaves. So far plants are doing great and weeds are not. :-)

Alexis.

PS. Having used both methods I much prefer the cardboard.

It's the only way to go! I agree with Alexis--cardboard is the best if you can get it!

Also, I've taken sod I've dug up, to widen a bed, and plopped it green-side down in my proposed beds, and kept
piling it on top of each other and then put newspaper or cardboard down, too!

Our newest bed, out front was done this way! I just keep on piling on the compost and leaves in the Fall!
I'm doing this with it planted too! Just don't pile up anything close to the petioles of hosta, etc.
Taper it out--it will break down and settle eventually and even out the bed! WONDERFUL way to do it, folks!

AND, even after the first year of doing it, the soil is already improved--and I'm talking about soil that is
brownish yellow clay! In an area, that I did that, were planted old, old Junipers! The roots had strayed way
out from the plantings and I could not EVEN put the tip of my shovel into those areas to plant anything!
That was last year--this year, I've planted several hosta into those same spots, with NO difficulty!

Time will tell if the roots will overwhelm the hosta, but I can always move them if they do--the hosta,
not the Junipers! I'm just not up to that task--they are quite large and 46 yrs. old and it would
take an 18-wheeler with a tow rope to get them out, I'm pretty sure!!!

I will give credit to E.O. for talking me through and into doing it that way. He knows his compost!

My suggestions (after experience at this:
Scalp your lawn very close to the ground either with the mower or weed whacker. Spray with Roundup to kill it. I'd do 2 applications 4-7 days apart.

The day you lay paper, be sure it's not windy.
Last year, I was considering doing this and Ken (I think) said any thick paper would do. I have a roll of that thick craft paper that builders put on hardwood floors.

Now, the garden I did with newspapers 2 years ago, I wish I'd done differently. First of all, I was working on a slight slope and I started out at the top without considering that water would flow downhill and under the papers. So, like roofing, start at the bottom and work up. Overlap by AT LEAST 6 inches.

Be prepared that if you go to plant anytime in the next 2-3 years, paper will still be there. WHen you go to spade thru it to dig your hole, the paper will move and could create gaps where grass will start to grow again.

If, however, you can wait till fall, here's what I'd do. Scalp, Roundup, then cover with 4-6" of chewed-up leaves. I did that last fall and I LOVE the results. The ground was soft and ready for planting this spring!

I agree - this is the BEST and EASIEST way to create a new planting bed! Definitely layer in grass clippings and fall leaves if you can. I rake or blow my leaves on to the driveway and run my mulching mower over them. Then I sweep them into piles and scoop into a rolling trash can. Makes it easy to take them to the new bed and dump/spread.

My method has been to use the lowest setting on my mower to scalp the new bed, then dump on the mulched leaves. Next top with the newspaper, then cover with pine bark mulch. I will try the cardboard method at some point, but it seems you'd have to wait a season in order for it to break down enough to be able to dig a hole for the new plants.

Thank you for all the advice.
Here is what I did:

Pulled out old plants(mostly weeds)and put down a layer of fall malch:

layed down a layer of wet new paper:

Covered with a layer of cypress mulch:

You might want to line landscape fabric under the rocks too.

And, if you do another bed, like that, make sure you use 8+ sheets thickness of newspaper!
The thickness will help kill out the weeds! :o) I may be wrong, but it looks like only one-page
thickness is laid out! These eyes get so tired at this hour, so forgive me if I'm seein' wrong!

Looks very nice--love the stones and melati's suggestion--I have been given the same suggestion
with placing stepping stones in the landscape. Keeps them from sinking! :o)

When you folks mention shredded leaves or leaf mulch, does it matter if it's 100% oak leaves? My mom said something about acidity or something from the oak leaves.

She has 2 huge piles of oak leaves (from past 4-5 years) that seems to get bigger each fall. Can I use it for anything or would it be considered "too rich" or whatever?

Mine are always 100% oak, since that is what is my and my neighbor's yard. No problems for me.

I do my 'lasagne' a little differently then anyone has mentioned in this thread. I go right into an area of lawn (grass) and plant my hosta. I pile up a dam of packed dirt around each hosta, leaving a low spot around the plant itself (so that when I water, the water stays where it's needed most instead of potentially running off. Then I lay my lasagne newspapers around the hostas, leaving the small area of raw soil inside the dam open. I use several layers of newspaper (6-8) and cover it with about 4 inches of mulch (cedar here, where it's plentiful).

Do make sure you get many layers of newspaper. I ran short one year and skimped, using only 2-4 layers and that just wasn't enough to keep the grass from coming through. I was pulling grass out of that bed for a couple of years.

And I have to second what Janice said. This turns poor soil into beautiful, workable topsoil in a very short time. All that grass composts beautifully and the soil becomes really easy to work so if you want to go and stick in extra hostas or companion plants, all you do is scrape the mulch away and dig. The soil is just lovely under there!

I'm surprised at the cardboard. I'll have to give that a try. I would have expected it would be so stiff that it would be really difficult to handle and work with. Do you wet it down to make it more pliable, or is the stiffness just not a problem?

Joyce--I lay the cardboard out to fit the parameters and then wet it down.
If you use smaller pieces, it works fine but I have used fairly large pieces
and just cram it where I want it.

You can also use a 'box' cutter, to make it the size or pattern you want! :o)

Then I spray it with the hose till its sopping wet and stomp it down further!

I like your idea, Joyce, of the dam--that's a great idea!!!

I use the largest pieces of cardboard I can lay my hands on. Appliance size are good. Or if you have a garage door company near you they always have lots of big pieces that they just throw away. I've done two large beds with cardboard. After I did the first one I had a truck load of sandy loam brought in. I just piled it right on top. I did not wet the cardboard. I planted right into that. Of course I was only planting hosta so it wasn't necessary to go as deep to where the cardboard was. This year I planted more hosta in the same bed and I find that it is much easier to go through year old cardboard than year old newspaper. My little shovel just punches right through, where with the newspaper, at least for me, it seemed to pull out of position instead of taring.

I ran out of soil for my second bed, so last year I put down the cardboard and then just put down fall leaves that I mulched with my mower and grass clippings. Everytime the lawn was water this bed was also watered. This year I just planted directly into last year's leaves and lawn clippings. Everything seems to be doing great. Getting through the cardboard is easy as pie.

Alexis

Thanks, Janice and Alexis, for the explanations about how you use the cardboard. The methods sound great, even better then the newspaper I've always used. I'll have to give it a try on the next section.

I also agree with Alexis--it's MUCH easier getting through the cardboard with a shovel,
but, apparently, not so easy for the grass and weeds, so far! :o)

we had flooding last year and we had a large piece of rug in the basement that got wet.

Thot i'd bring it out to the yard to dry out.

well, then i thot ... let's kill the grass in this area with the rug (since the rug was going to have to be replaced anyway).

works wonderful. I leave it there a few weeks, and have very little grass to deal with. I always mow first, THEN put the rug down.

dkB