FWIW, I cover my cardboard quite deeply with straw, old hay, leaves, compost and soil.

So you are trying to build more soil, not just get rid of unwanted vegetation to use the soil you already have?

Both. Even when simply getting rid of vegetation for a walkway, I cover the cardboard with 6 inches of leaves.

My landscaper came today and gave me some new ideas (in addition to the old ones). He even suggested where I could put a three bin compost pile. Shoot, I just realized that all I have been reading says I should just lay it down in the garden to get the full benefits, rather than losing quite a bit of it by composting in bins. But I cannot just lay down kitchen detritus in my garden. Plus I would need to know where I put it so I could make sure I gave the 'treatment' to the entire garden and not just do it hit and miss.

Some people do bury kitchen refuse directly in the garden. My grandfather always did exactly that.

Huh. Well then all I have to do is make a paper grid and note each time I bury it as to where. Easier than what I am doing now.

I'm not from Alaska, but I'm researching a way to replace some of my traditional lawn with other plants or plant mixtures that need much less mowing and attention, while still growing short enough to enjoy walking on. I have found a couple of plant mixes that include dwarf rye, english daisies, dwarf yarrow, strawberry clover and microclovers. Has anyone here used such a mixture? Since it blooms, I'm thinking it is probably a bee magnet, but wanted some input before I try it out. I'm wondering how I would go about replacing existing grasses - will these mixtures will overseed and take over. . . or would I have to kill off the existing grasses.

All info is appreciated.

http://www.kingcounty.gov/envi...

Here's sort of a general article, but the basic idea is to kill the grass by covering with cardboard and mulch, and then plant your other plants.

Thanks for the link, hazelnut. I'll be working in that direction!

>> Well then all I have to do is make a paper grid and note each time I bury it as to where. Easier than what I am doing now.

A half-and-half approach may be even easier.

Keep a small compost heap, only big enough to hold 1-2 weeks of kitchen refuse. If you have enough brown leaves or sawdust or clippings to cover the kitchen waste and keep it out of sight, even better. Keep a plstic-handled pitchfork or old shovel near the heap.

Each time you wnat to get the watse out of the kitchen, drop it on the heap and cover with some leaves.

When convenient, every few weeks, bury the heap in a shallow trench in the garden, and you only have to dig a trench or mark your map every few weeks.

Or tie a string to two pegs, and move the string to show how far the trenches have advanced.

Or, you could just do it systematically. N side left to right. then move to S side left to right.

I've used this process with great success. It's known by many names- lasagna gardening, sheet composting, interbay mulch...
The process is the same- cardboard or thick newspaper, then layers of organic material, whatever you have- kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, straw, grass clippings, fall leaves, hay, weeds, dead flowers, used potting soil. The possibilities are endless.

I think the only difference in sheet composting or lasagna gardening and interbay mulch is that the interbay mulch is covered with burlap. (This started in Seattle. They have all that coffee! and therefore free big burlap sacks). Lacking the burlap, I have used other natural material- cotton sheets. Worked well. The fabric on top of the hump helps keep things moist and dark, encourages bacterial and fungal growth to aid breakdown.

An important step is moistening as you build the hump. It can be really tough to get it moist after you build a hump of a foot or more of stuff. Keep it moist. Doesn't need wet, just moist. When it all drys completely, breakdown stops, so you want to keep it moist. It breaks down much better/faster.

Karen