Due to the abundance of raw materials, the slowed growth of weeds and the generally good moisture levels, autumn is an excellent time to begin a garden. Here’s how:

Begin by collecting enough paper or cardboard to cover your intended garden bed several layers deep. Also, collect and grind (if you can) enough leaves to cover the area deeply … at least six inches, preferably more. Make up more than you expect to use. The excess, if any, can be applied with good effect to any other area of the garden. Set these aside for the moment.

Most of us don’t have a formal “grinder”. You can line the leaves up near a wall and hit them with the lawnmower a few times, or dump a bunch of leaves into a trash barrel and have at it with the string trimmer. If you have a Snapper mower, Snapper makes a shredding attachment that fits between the blade and the chute that does a 7:1 reduction bang-up job. It’s just some expanded steel mesh with a rim, so, if you can weld, you can probably make one in 15 minutes or so.

Select a site that gets plenty of summer sun – you’ll want at least 6 hours a day and, if you have to make a choice, morning sun is preferable to evening sun. If it tends to be a little too wet to garden, that’s okay — as long as it’s not hopelessly boggy.

Knock the weeds back (anything that isn’t what you hope to grow is a weed), by working your way down to the lowest setting on your mower or just skimming the surface with a string trimmer. Leave the clippings where they fell. Scalping is good. Spading is okay (but largely pointless). Rototilling is not. Roundup is absolutely forbidden!*

Layer on several layers of cardboard and / or newsprint. You want to block the light and water for a while so as to kill the weeds. Do not be overly concerned about using too much. Corrugated cardboard is made up of relatively thin layers of paper and newsprint is fairly porous; both will decompose with dispatch. Two or three layers of corrugated cardboard or a dozen layers of newsprint is about right. Halving that amount may not work at all, but doubling it won’t cause any significant harm.

The layers nearest the ground will absorb moisture from the ground and begin to decay within a few days. The earthworms will come to this bottom layer and eat it**, thus exposing the next layer up to the moisture and repeating the process. Along the way, the earthworms will thank you for your generosity by making even more earthworms. And this, as Martha Stewart says, “is a good thing.”

Wet the top of the paper & cardboard to help hold it in place. You might also consider driving a number of small stakes or even steel nails (uncoated common box (smooth sides, pronounced flat head) #8-#16 will work) through it. Over time, these will rust, releasing iron into the soil. And that, too, “is a good thing.”

Next, add the leaves you had reserved for this moment, watering them as you go. Dry leaves are hard to get wet again. If you just pile the leaves on your planting bed without watering them as you go, you will find disappointment awaiting you in the spring: the bottom layer of leaves will have turned to leaf mold, the good, the outside layers will be hopelessly behind because the sun and wind keep them from staying wet enough long enough. The bad. And the inner layers of leaves will be as dry as you left them, sheltered by the surrounding layers. And the ugly.

So, water as you go. If it’s a cold day, perhaps you can get your POSSLQ to make you a cup of cocoa as you work. But wet those leaves down. Unless you are working in a steady rain, don’t leave things to nature. If you are working in a steady rain, you are beyond hope.

If you have burlap bags or some burlap windscreen fabric (check your local hardware stores & nurseries), lay it over the final pile and stake the outer edges to the ground. This will reduce losses due to wind. Burlap, or other breathable material, is the preferred cover sheeting.

However, this is one of the few times I will ever recommend using plastic in the garden. When preparing a bed this way, a roll of heavy polyethylene will trap heat and moisture inside, allowing for quicker decomposition in the autumn and earlier warming in the spring. Then take it off, rinse it off, and save it for next fall.

The brand name “Visqueen” comes to mind, but there may be others. The only bit of redemption in this environmentally hazardous step is that the plastic, if thick enough, can be used for many years before being recycled. Don’t just pitch it … recycle it. This same sheet of plastic can also be used to sterilize a patch of soil harboring bad stuff (blight, rust … whatever) through the summer. This will return a patch of ground to cultivation in only one year instead of having to fallow it for three or more years to let the offending organism die back to manageable levels.

Know a better way? That’s what the comment section is for. — Bill

*The active ingredient in RoundUp is probably, as claimed, safe. But the “inactive” ingredients, while safe enough individually, aren’t being used individually, are they? The gubmint only requires that they be tested individually, so the label is truthful. But, a glaring loophole does not safety make. Evidence is mounting that the combination causes leukemia. And that, my friend, is “a bad thing”.

** It’s not actually that simple: the earthworms are eating the microorganisms that cause the decay – not the decay itself. I tell ya, a garden is a dangerous place!