Another high priority for re inventing this place was not having grass. Cardboard laid over the grass with 6 to 8 inches of leaves piled on top for several months is how I killed the grass. I collected large pieces of cardboard at furniture and bike stores. Big pieces are best, better coverage, more convenient. The City delivers leaves in the Fall. [call them to arrange a delivery]. The mulch was in place from October to March. I did toss the leaves a couple of times so help with decomposition without puncturing the cardboard. Its also good to add other kinds of organic matter such as manure to the leaves and mix it in.

Finally, in March, I identified where my paths would be. This also defined the bed locations. I dug through the well mostly decayed leaves and through the cardboard, which was mostly decomposed, and turned the soil and sod fork by fork. The dead sod and grass is best to dig out and shake the dirt off. It was all dead but still very much a clump. I set the sod aside, none of it grew back although dandelions survived, not much of a problem. Sheet mulching REALLY works. It is far better than digging out living grass if you have a choice. Certainly over the past eleven years, weeds to show up but they are easy to keep up with.Keeping grass out of the garden is one of the most time consuming chores in a typical yard. My experience has been removing the grass from any garden area - ground level or raised bed saves a lot of time.

The paths are now chipped wood. Beds are nice odd geometric shapes. I did both front and back yards. Veggie garden is in the back yard. Front yard is bramble garden, blueberries but as of 2011, transitioning towards food forest. For converting grassy areas to garden and habitat, sheet mulching can't be beat.

Links to other pages at bottom.

Visit these pages.