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In my recent column about lawn care, I stated that many gardeners are trading in expanses of lawn for garden beds. Creating more space for flowers, edibles and native plants is an admirable goal, but where do you start?

Through a process called sheet mulching, you can create a planting bed right over existing turf grass (or even over weeds). It does not require rototilling or herbicides, but does involve planning, a little work and patience.

Since the process takes about six months, now is a great time to plan for a new bed to be ready by spring.

Here are steps to create a new garden bed through sheet mulching.

Use stakes for a rectangular bed or a garden hose for a free-form shape. You can use landscape paint to mark the outline.

Use the lowest setting the mower to cut down the lawn or other vegetation that you are going to smother.

Use a flat-bladed shovel to dig a 4- to 6-inch groove around the edge of the bed. Toss the turf scraps inside the bed you are laying out. (I must confess that I have omitted this edging step and still achieved my goal.)

Use a single layer of corrugated cardboard or 10 sheets of newspaper to cover the entire surface of the future bed. Overlap the edges by 8 to 10 inches. Wet the paper as you go; this helps hold the paper in place and contributes to the breakdown of the mulch material.

If you are planning to fill the bed with native plants, a 4- to 6-inch layer of organic material on top is all that is necessary — pine needles, dead leaves, grass clippings, wood chips or bark. Most native plants do not prefer rich soil. If you intend to plant annuals, vegetables or fruit, you will need to add about 18 inches of organic material.

Use the same principal you would apply to a compost pile: Alternate layers of nitrogen-rich materials (such as fresh grass clippings) with carbon sources (such as dried leaves or sawdust). The layers will shrink down over time.

After about six months, your new bed will be ready for planting. Do not remove the mulch materials but punch right through them to plant in the underlying soil and keep the mulch from touching the plants’ stems.

For the first season, the sheet mulch materials will help preserve moisture and keep down weeds.

For a visual guide to sheet mulching, check out this five-minute video: lanc.news/SheetMulching.

Workshop: Master Gardeners of Lancaster County invite you to register for our upcoming workshop to be held at Southeast Agricultural Research and Extension Center, 1446 Auction Road, between Landisville and Manheim, from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sept. 10.

The workshop is titled “Delight in Your Fall Garden: It’s Not Just Another Growing Season.” The workshop is free, but registration is requested, online, at lanc.news/FallGarden.

For garden quandaries and questions, please contact our Garden Hotline at LancasterMG@psu.edu or 717-394-6851.

Lois Miklas is a Penn State Master Gardener for Lancaster County, and a former area Master Gardener coordinator.

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