Hope you post another picture of this area in bloom.

Thanks! And, well, it's a work in progress. Right now it definitely looks better and fuller, the containers do, and I have proceeded to start a border of rocks around the outer edge. I've placed other containers there on the straw (small ones) while I decide where to plant this and that.

I'm considering whether to plant around the base of the outer container sides now, or wait til spring.

Anyway, later today I'll get another picture in this comment thread; maybe the orange cosmos will have some open blossoms.

I have lasagned gardens and what a relief to know it isnt necessary to break my back digging and turning sod.
I made the mistake of trying to plant in the ground a month after layering. It was horrible. Since then I learned to wait a season or start a area in the fall and come spring its ready to direct plant.
Nice hint about considering the lawn mower.

You are so right, I should wait, no doubt. And I would definitely wait if this were a regular lasagna bed -- but the edges of the containers are so tempting, LOL!

And I used to double-dig, so yes, it's wonderful to know I don't have to do that; applied patience and the lasagna method works as well or better.

go for it

Update:

Here are some pictures from today.



It will be quite a while before the actual bed itself shows much to look at, but the containers are satisfying, and I'm using the bed as a sort of staging area for what you see there. Also it serves as a bit of a hospital; in the gallon black nursery pot is a new daylily I lifted from another bed because its new growth kept getting stepped on or eaten -- so here I can protect it for a while before it goes back to the actual garden.

The next two show, first, the end where you can see I've begun the border of stones, and second, a view across the yard just for a bit of context and because, to me, it looks pleasing from that angle. Edit: Although it does bother me, that one pot sitting at an angle like that. I'll have to see if I can manage to level that one up a bit.



Thanks, everyone, for your interest, comments, thumbs, and acorns.

Looking good. I like the idea of moving containers.

Marvelous!
I'm a sister cardboard enthusiast!
Once I did it the first time, I was hooked.

I don't pre-wet my cardboard though.
Usually I put it down, weigh it down, and leave it for the rain to wet.
Mainly, I guess, because my desire to smother the grass/weeds is always ahead of my ability to acquire topsoil....

After a fairly thin layer of new topsoil, I have the good fortune to have bunny poo to scatter as the very top layer.
Toss in some worms gathered through the summer as I work in established beds, then relocated in fall, and we're off to the races!

I have never tried to do it quickly.
I lay the cardboard whenever, then top it in time to let the rain, snow, and worms do the work.
I'm almost finished doing my whole property from lawn to a perennial and food garden.

Wonderful! Here, there is no guarantee of enough moisture to let that happen, though. My housemate has been in the habit of putting cardboard over weeds and unwanted growth and weighting it down and it just sits there looking unsightly.

Piling straw on top really helps the soil underneath, too. Or at least, that is my belief.

I envy your rabbit poo, though! And where do you keep the worms you collect until you're ready to redeploy them??

I keep the worms in a bucket on the shady porch, to which I add seedless weeds I've pulled.

And I was thinking overnight that I forgot to mention my backyard doesn't get many viewers!

Ah, good solution! I look forward to the day when I have enough worms here to do something like that. I just started gardening in this location this summer which is one reason I'm in a hurry.

Cool.

I'd suggest you use your best soil (veg garden, probably) to gang up every worm you find now. NEXT season, you can take from there as you work, because they will have multiplied, and spread them around! That's kind of what I did when I first started here, but I wasn't so organized.

AND if you find a place to BUY worms, DO TELL, because @RickCorey might like to do the same. He's on the other coast from you, but maybe you can clue us in on the buzz words and stuff.

And P.S. The worms LOVE cardboard. The first place I put it turned into the first place I collected them from.

But, don't you feel the worms are doing good work where they are? I encounter them from time to time and have left them where they are since I have no need to disturb them, really, and felt that improving the soil in general was the best way to encourage more worms.

To be honest, I am a bit puzzled that there are so few worms here! I may have to import some. I have never had to do that before. It's truly bizarre.

Well, starting from scratch is easy, wormwise.
I had only a small area of leaf litter where there were any worms to speak of.
I found them when I planted crocus bulbs there.
One garden bed at a time was my process.
While they ARE doing good work where they are, my priority was whatever new bed I was building.
AND since I was adding nice organic matter to that new bed, they'd have lots to eat and they'd multiply.
Later, they've all gotten spread throughout again because I've now almost completed my bed areas.

Dig under whatever leaf litter or "pile" of organic matter you found when you first got there.
Mine were along the back fence, which abuts a dirt alley abandoned by the city decades ago and now full of trees.

crittergarden said:AND since I was adding nice organic matter to that new bed, they'd have lots to eat and they'd multiply.

I agree: if you feed them, they will come.

The only place I saw worms in my yard was IN the compost heap. That was the only place that had enough organic matter to interest them or support them.

Has anyone tried using the brown kraft paper that comes in large rolls at the big box home improvement stores as the bottom layer for lasagna gardening? I have some left over from a previous painting project and will try it in an area of lawn I want to convert to a shade bed.

I have tried cardboard in the past and was unhappy with the results. it did smother the grass, but didn't seem to let the ground underneath "breathe" well enuf to soften and improve the soil.

Hi Sharon -- I save the brown paper that's used as packing material for this exact purpose, but instead of using it exclusively as the bottom layer, I use it like I do the newspaper, to patch the uncovered areas, corners, and edges.

I wonder about your cardboard concerns, though. IMO, the main key to successfully engaging the soil underneath the lasagna is what you use along with and on top of the cardboard. If you have enough soil/manure/compost/mulch -- and give it enough time -- it should work fine. (Though in more compacted spots it can take a while.)

In other words, yes to the kraft paper but I don't think the cardboard is the cause of the problem you refer to.

I just did a much larger lasagna project, and am scrambling to get enough stuff on top! And I did have to patch among the cardboard pieces with every bit of paper I could lay my hands on, to complete the shape.

I think the cardboard is best to kill what's under it - paper "melts" too quickly.
Along with lots of nice, damp toppings!
WORMS, I think are what you need. I find the most worms under where I have used cardboard.