I'd like to chime in. I don't have experience using this method over areas with previously growing trees but it sure worked for some things that were pretty tough (like giant wild blackberry bushes, vines with huge underground root systems and lots of tall woody-stemmed field weeds). In fact, this forum was the first place I learned of this method. Cardboard. I now use it ANY TIME I am creating a new bed or I just want to get the weeds under control in certain areas without spending a fortune on brush killer. No longer do I try to dig up or spray weeds before planting. I just smother the entire area in a layer of overlapping cardboard so no sun gets through and then pile topsoil on top of that if I'm going to turn it into a flowerbed. My current project is an 80-ft. x 6 ft. patch of land in between my daylily field and the gravel road. The weeds were so tough and tall here you couldn't see the daylilies in bloom beyond it. I'm not making this a flowerbed but I don't want it a weedy mess so this summer I covered the entire strip with heavy-duty cardboard and covered it with a shallow layer of mulch to keep the cardboard from blowing away and so it looks nice. EVERYTHING underneath has died and is staying dead. Every so often in the beginning a straggler will poke out around the edges trying to reach the sun and then I spray it a couple of times with some weed killer and it's a goner. I've told everyone I know how effective this is. This process may take a month or more to kill the weeds for good but I just do it a little at a time as I collect the cardboard (which is free from any Walmart, big box store, etc...). Now that it's dead I can take off the mulch and re-use it elsewhere or just let it continue to decompose there and improve the soil. After 3 months the cardboard is like paper and the remnants can simply be raked away or dug in when the area is planted. AWESOME TECHNIQUE and my thanks go out to whoever made the post where I first read about it. Danielle

isaiah, you can enter your zip code at the link and find out your zone (though sometimes zip codes cross zone boundaries): http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/# At the same page above, you can click on the map of Hawaii and see where the various zones are in your state. Hawaii includes zones 9a through 13a: 9 different zones! (Alaska has even more.) The USDA Plant Hardiness Zones are based on average minimum temperature: so all a zone tells you is which plants will survive your winter.

In my 13x19 kitchen, I had (still have till the reno) a 6 person table - it is too big. The table is 4x6. Here are pics so you can get an idea: First let me say, there is about a foot of space between the table and the window wall. The counters are 24" so that means I have 11 feet for length of the table. 6 of those feet are the table, leaving 2.5 feet on each side, which sounds like it might be enough, but truly is not. When someone is sitting on the one end, you can barely squeeze through to get out the door (and that's if you are a smaller person). The cabinets aren't accessible if anyone sits on the other side. This shows how little space is on the door side:

Photos are always helpful. Add them in the comments and wait for the grayed out appearance to gain full color before hitting submit. We know almost nothing about this area such as location in the world, location in your yard, goals for the space other than you want something different and it is wet. Why raised planters instead of plants that like moisture? What is the water source? Looking just for curb appeal or some other goal.