Making a new bed the EASY way!

14 years ago

I am totally copying a post I saw this morning in the daylily forum. :) But my mom had also just suggested this to me as a way to prepare our perennial bed we are doing in the fall. It completely avoids digging or tilling any grass. From the time I got the wild hair to do this today until we were finished, total time was an hour and a half. :D Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' 'bout!!

Here's where we started. I put the Zebra grass in last fall, and I just added some cannas...but now I had these goofy little mulch circles that were going to make it hard to mow around, and hard to maintain.

I laid out the shape I wanted with a soaker hose, then started putting newspaper down. I used a thickness of eight sheets. Mom uses five. I don't think there's really a magic number, but it does need to be pretty thick. The newspaper, so they tell me, will smother the grass, but allow water through, and eventually break down (the grass beneath it along with it). It's sort of like a modified version of a lasagna garden (to quote the daylily post I saw).

Angus says, "Don't forget to wet the newspaper first!" he he he (Keeps it in place while you work).

We got a section done and mulched as we went. Pretty thick...about three or four inches? I just did it thick enough that I felt it would not move around and reveal paper...

Angus says, "You're doing a great job. I'll just be over here in the shade."

Getting close...

Finished!! It looks awesome!

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Comments (9)

ccmarks
14 years ago
Easy and it looks great, nice work!! Wish I had done something like that before digging my most recent garden this spring. It was a backbreaker! It's done now, but I'm really liking that idea for my next garden I plan to start late summer/early fall. It's going to be a pretty large one too so I'm looking forward to trying your idea. Thanks for posting!
newyorkrita
14 years ago
It DOES look awesome. I especially love the fact that you said it took an hour and a half. It would have taken all day at least if you had to dig the grass. Plus then there is the problem of just were exactly do you all those cloddy pieces of grass? Great job and there will be lots of room to plant in the fall or spring.
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Yes, I get some re rooting of grass with the burn method, but not that much. I also get some re rooting with my old method of removing sod and multiple cart trips over the hill to dump it. Burning also leaves you with the less soil loss than removing sod. Although I read about a guy that ground his sod and soil up in a chipper and reused it. One negative to the burning is this. You stink of smoke and your clothes may need a couple of washes to get it out. You also may get some eye irritation from the smoke. I've put in 5 beds this way so far. I put in about 18 beds the traditional way of digging out the sod. I came up with this burn method when the summer was half gone and I wanted to plant some corn for the first time. I had to get it planted within a day or so if I wanted some corn, so I burnt out a bed and tilled it and planted next day. Now no doubt digging sod can be done as quick, if you got the energy and back fortitude. But I'm older and take some time to dig, so I now rather burn and till now. My first beds were done with black plastic solarizing the grass. And it worked OK, but we did not get lots of heat in the spring, so the grass was only so-so dead to the roots and lots came back. But if you get lots of sun heat and have 6 to 8 weeks, the plastic method is OK to use. Here is my brunt bed I'm working on now. This was after one burn. I'm letting it rest some and will till it up and burn it some more in a few days. No big rush. I got all winter. Maybe will plant red potatoes and onions in it. Something the deer wont eat. Although they do nibble on the potatoes even though the tops are poisonous. But if I spray them with garlic and pepper they seem to be left alone. BTW, if you got baby trees and the raccoons get your fruit you can armor plate them like this late harvest Asian pear. (See top of fence for 2 way spikes and bottom of tree for enclosure) Here are some more beds put in with the burn method in mid summer. Good Luck!
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"Wonderful way to do it, but don't you need to put in DIRT also, Rita? How long before you can plant in these beds? I'm full of questions, but I need to simplify things here too, because I don't walk too well anymore. Hope you can clear up my questions! thanks, susan" Putting down soil....answer = "it depends." Notice that, when planting shrubs, Rita dug DOWN into the underlying soil, the stuff under the grass she was killing. Notice, too, that she made her daylily bed months before planting in it. Reasons for those things = the organic material laid on top of the grass will, over time, decompose, so the level of material will therefore drop. Roots of trees, shrubs, daylilies & other perennials will be exposed. You can plant annuals, including vegetables, right away in a newly made lasagna bed. I use lasagna method to create new beds, although with differences in specifics from what Rita does. For one thing, I use a greater range of material, everything from crumbled leaves (I have ~10 enormous bags full of them in the barn right now), to grass clippings to contents of compost bucket, to aged compost, pine bark fines, to mushroom soil, etc. Also, instead of newspaper, you can use cardboard, although that works better if you want to create straight-edged beds. In both cases, 'tho particularly with the cardboard, you should wet thoroughly before laying down. I soak in a wheelbarrow full of water. The purpose is to help shape the material in the way that you want. Also, no, you don't need to apply an herbicide to grass, as lalalandwi did. The point of the newspaper/cardboard and leaves + whatever is to do that for you, over time. If your grass is quite high, it does help to clip it short, but IMO that's merely to enable you to lay the first layer (newspaper/cardboard) relatively flat. Bear in mind that, even with those layers -- even with deep layers -- you may have certain weeds able to grow through. Various grasses, for example; I believe I've seen mention of bermuda grass, 'tho I may be misremembering. For that stuff, perhaps you would need an herbicide. Also bear in mind that leaving leaves as a nice warm layer in autumn may be an invitation for mice & voles to use as burrows. Not a good thing! I had something burrowing in one of my beds, but didn't notice til this spring. The burrow was about half an inch from my plant of NEON FLAMINGO! So I almost had a valued daylily go through a winter with roots and crown exposed. Ugh. :( Also, many people will layer something on top of the leaves, particularly if they're making beds in autumn/winter. It's for neatness as much as for any other reason - to keep leaves from blowing around. And, relative to whole ones, crumbled leaves will both decompose more quickly and blow around less. If you have many questions about this and similar methods, you should go over to the soil & composting forum on this web site. Many people with much experience there. Not to mention, it'll be on topic. :)))
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So not putting sheets in my freezer. Don't need dust mites there dead or alive. Proper washing will eliminate the problem. My washer does cold prerinse with oxyclean to flush, then hot wash with detergent then 3 cold rinses. Before the front loader with heater the sheets were washed in apartment house top loaders. I couldn't get rid of the body oil odor until I started washing in machine witht he heater. I have a Miele but Electrolux makes them as well. I swear by those hot washes and also use them to get rid of mildew odor from linens I buy from France. One sani cycle completely restores the color and removes soil and odor from the fibers. @cindaymac - Don't you love those those shams and quilt? Also have them for our guest room bed with additional quilt for color accent. They wash nicely, too.
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conniemcghee
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks Rita!! (It was Rita's idea from the daylily forum...which, by the way, you guys should check out. AWESOME nice people with beautiful pictures!)
ilovenature
14 years ago
We did the lasagna garden method last year for both our vegetable garden and our flower garden. It not only saved us tons of back breaking work, but looks fantastic. This year in early spring, I planted several tomato plants and the soil was so rich I could almost dig a hole with my fingers. Just added more compost around the base of the tomato plants a week ago to enrich the soil a bit. Weeding is almost non existant as long as you keep an eye out for the crab grass that always seems to show up inevitably. Once the tomato's are harvested, I plan on doing the whole lasagna thing again just to keep the soil in good condition. I encourage everyone to try this.
honeybunny442
14 years ago
Looks great! Will you come to my house and make some? LOL
geneo74
14 years ago
There are so many different type mulches out there, which one would you all recommend?
brandon7 TN_zone7
14 years ago
That depends on 1) what's available, 2) what you can afford, 3) the look you are going for, and maybe 4) the type of plants you are using the mulch around. I would try to use organic mulch when possible. That way the mulch will build your soil as it decomposes.

Most of the time, I use shredded hardwood mulch. It's not always the best choice in some aspects, but it is readily available and much less expensive than some of the alternatives. It also holds together well (prevents wind and erosion issues) and gives a good finished look.

Pine bark has many advantages (lasts long, repels insect, doesn't rob surface nitrogen, and looks great), but also some drawbacks (expense, isn't always available in large quantities, can be displaced by wind or water). If you use pine bark nuggets, use the smaller variety unless you have a really large bed and large plants. I think the big nuggets look bad in small beds.

I love pine needle mulch, but, since Ed McMahon never came to visit me with a check before he died, I can't afford enough of it to cover my beds.

I've used pea gravel in some beds. It looks really nice if well maintained. The two big issues with pea gravel is heat buildup in sunny locations and dirt/debris getting into the crevices. I spend a few minutes every week cleaning out my relatively small amount of pea graveled beds. It's been worth it, I guess, but I don't think I would use it if I had to do it over again. The one thing you should never use is white rocks. Why do people like this look? I have never understood it! I think a slab of concrete or blacktop would be more attractive.
geneo74
14 years ago
One reason I asked was because bought a couple bags of expensive pine mulch from Walmart advertised as insect control for 90 days. It was for a flower bed out in front yard, with no new soil but had been worked up several years ago and had been producing fine. Now on one end I can't get anything to grow, each transplant gets its roots eaten up in 3-4 days. When digging into it I swear that end is full of termites & if they are--then the mulch brought them in.
brandon7 TN_zone7
14 years ago
It's unlikely that termites were brought in with the mulch. However, termites are ubiquitous and could be attracted to many types of decaying wood. They are not likely to be attracted by any type of pine mulch and they don't generally harm garden plants of any kind. Applying insecticide unnecessarily can be disadvantageous because it kills all your beneficial insects. However, if you have a significant termite infestation in or near your home, it would probably be wise to take action!

Making a new bed the EASY way!

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Making a new bed the EASY way!

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