Place cardboard on top of the soil. If you first wet it with a garden hose, it's easier to rip in order to make a better fit around the plants. Carry a bucket of water along with your bag of shredded paper. Fill the bucket with as much paper as it can comfortably handle. Scoop out handfuls of soggy paper and place them on the cardboard in clumps. Something happens when the paper placed this way dries: it's almost glued together and it doesn't fly away. I cover the paper with grass clippings (I add throughout the summer) because I don't like the look of whitish-grey flowerbeds. Works great.

If you are in a part of the country that gets winter rain but is short on water during the growing season you can use gutter water during rain season to get the stuff soaking wet and bury it shallow as water reservoir for favored plants. Here in NY it will function for a few years in this capacity before breaking down (I have a small "dry" nursery, meaning no irrigation) and have used junk mail for this purpose. Where it gets more chance for soil to dry out and where the soil is generally warmer it will break down more quickly which will reduce water storage but improve soil.

Unless you are very obsessive you do not need to have each planting bed tested, sample each bed, mix the soil together, and submit one soil sample to the lab for testing. A soil pH meter, if it works right, will tell you what your soils pH but it will not tell you if your Calcium and Magnesium are in balance. Since plants need those in balance to properly utilize each that probably is a gardeners need to know item. Litmus papers can give you and indication of your soils pH but again will not tell you anything about the levels of Calcium and Magnesium. Since a test for the amount of organic matter in soil is quite simple paying a soil testing lab to determine that probably is a waste of your money. These simple soil tests can help a gardener find out more about the soil they have. 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 your 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.

More layers - the more the better! Another thick layer of shredded papers (scattering doesn't count ;), another thick layer of manure, more coffee grounds, spread a bale of straw and add more manure on top of it, a layer of fall leaves with a layer of grass clippings on top of it, etc. Ideally, the cardboard goes on first next to the scraped ground to block weeds. Picture a cross section of a chunk of lasagna - each layer is thick enough to be identified, right? Enjoy the bed building process. ;) Dave