Wow, rich soil, nice fat earthworm and a beautiful butterfly. Fantastic. I can hardly wait to see your gardens all filled in. I think it would be great fun to start with a 'clean slate', as long as one didn't have to deal with HOA's. : -)

Keep the pictures coming Kathy. I am enjoying seeing your property's transformation.

FlowerLady

Right you are, Kathy! My soil in Ohio was like a rock. Three years later I had rich, crumby soil that was FULL of plump earthworms. To think that you are already seeing the "fruits of your labors". Hooray!

Patti

That looks good enought to eat! Congratulations!

Steven

Kathy - that soil looks like any gardener's dream come true. What kinds of goodies have worked out well for you in your lasagna layers, and has it been hard to find and collect enough of them to do the job?

ThinMan

t-man:
I use the thinnest cheapest roofing felt/paper I can buy.
This time I covered the paper with about a foot of ground leaves.
I am lucky to have a fellow bring me about 25 bags each friday during the "leaf" season. Which, part of which, is Feb and March here. This area has millions of escarpment live oak trees and they loose their leaves in March. The amount he brings would take me years to collect. This fellow does commercial lawn/grounds maintenance. He lives near me and gives them to me for free. By doing that he saves the dump fees. Perhaps if you drive around, you can find that type of person. I also use mulched grass clippings. Any thing that will decompose and feed the soil.

Three years ago I bought several yards of compost to put on top of the felt/paper. Then covered that with mulch.
The only reason I did not do that this year is due to tight funds.

It makes it so much easier on my back to not have to dig a whole bed.

There have been questions regarding the possibility of the paper being toxic. But I doublt those big fat worms would be in there if it were. There are also baby worms.

Thanks, Kathy. I will be keeping my eyes peeled for goodies like that. I'm a little surprised that you use roofing felt, though. I don't know about toxicity, but I would think that it would take forever to decompose. I guess it must work for you, though. :-)

ThinMan

It starts decomposing right away, as there is nothing to protect it, as shingles would.
It is so much easier, because you can roll it out and it is thicker than newspaper.
Actually, it was a county ag. agent that told me to use it.

Wow Kathy, your soil looks great. I would have never thought to use roofing felt.

We need an updated picture of your front yard!
Vikki

Nice..! How long has this taken you..?

and what does a baby worm look like? is that a silly question?

Vikki, I have been having trouble with photobucket. I'll keep trying.

LOL, friend, it looks just like an adult, just tiny.
I started that bed in Feb.

Against the side fence I now have tomato plants as high as the fence. I ate the first one today. Yummmmy.

Me likee lasagna gardening, too. All of my new beds last year and this year are lasagna. But, I used cardboard moving boxes for my bottom layer, since I had a very nice supply of them. ;) I also saved my own leaves for a layer; since our trees have been here since around 1970, we have tons! I actually planted only a week or two after doing the beds, but I did try to avoid the actual green grass clippings, to avoid burning the seedlings.