If you can, chop the leaves with a mulching leaf blower or a mulching lawn mower before you add them to the garden. They break down faster that way and you add more organic matter without adding greater depth and smothering things - i.e. a few inches of unchopped leaves will likely only be an inch or so of chopped leaves. It might take a bit longer to thaw under the leaves but it's not a significant difference that I've noticed - at least under the chopped leaves.... I chop my leaves and apply them to the garden in the fall. The plants come up through the leaves just fine and there's no need to mark where things are.

My experience was, the more heavy thick mulch on top of the cardboard, the better. I had a bad experience with smothering and have learned from my mistakes. I put down newspaper in the fall and covered it with leaves and pine needles, maybe two or three inches. The New England winter winds blew the leaves around, leaving bare spots; the squirrels dug holes in the newspaper; and by spring I had lots of perennial weeds poking through, unsmothered. You should be better off if you are smothering during the growing season.

As for knowing where your plants are, how are they going to grow if you are smothering them? (Am I missing something?) In my case, when I had a couple of plants I didn't want to smother, I just cut a hole in the newspaper for them to poke through.

When I'm not sure how a woodland garden is supposed to look (with leaves kept on the ground), I take a walk in a local state park or reserve and look at the ground -- sometimes we have to retrain our eyes to see a new normal.

-- wd

'well drained's points are good ones. I assumed that you've already gone through the smother stage and have actually planted things in the lasagna beds - resulting in your concern re finding the plants... If you haven't completed the smother stage, the more depth the better. But, if that is the case, wouldn't you have been better off to have left the planting until next spring? I'm unclear about what stage of the process you're in....

Apology; I wasn't very clear. I went about things haphazardly, as far as this conversion to woodland. I just didn't mow the back yard all spring and summer - I wanted to see what would "volunteeer" in the yard. During this time, I also planted quite a few ferns, hostas, ligularias, astilbes, etc. - a rather eclectic mix - in a rather random pattern.

A few weeks ago, I decided to start smothering the "lawn" (a couple of ferns "volunteered", but there's mostly a combination of grass, ground ivy, violets, clover, and other weed-ish type ground cover). I just put cardboard and/or newspaper and/or used leaf bags around the plants I want to keep, then pile up some half-composted mulch and/or peat moss on it. At first, it makes a sort of "donut" around the plant, but within a few days it levels off.

Once I get all the plant surrounds taken care of, then I plan to cover any remaining areas with cardboard/paper, and wood chips.

The long grass and stuff under the cardboard is a good green layer; I figure I won't need another green layer until spring, when I can use spring prunings on top of the fallen leaves.

Is this making more sense now?

Hmm...I'd think that you're going to have a weed problem in the areas immediately surrounding your plants. I think you might be best off to, if you can, move as many of the plants as you can to a holding bed and thoroughly smother the grass and weeds by piling leaves etc. deeply and evenly across the area you want to smother and then replant next spring. I think a patchy job where you're trying to avoid specific plants is going to give incomplete smothering and on-going weed problems. You'd be better off in the long run doing it thoroughly, even if you have to do it in sections over a longer period. That's what I did - did one side of the yard one year and the other side the next year - took longer but better end result I think.

Thanks very much for your helpful advice. I don't have a leaf chipper or mower - don't like dealing with machines - but my neighbor will probably make a pass over the leaves with his mower if I ask.

I am not too worried about weeds near the plants; I had dug out the top layer of sod and mulched around them when I planted them, and they still have "clear zones" around them. I am able to get pretty close to the plants with the newspaper and such - I fold it into narrow strips, triangles, etc. I excpect to have some weeding to to next year, but I think it will be manageable, and I can re-smother any problem patches that appear.

That said, I was coming to the realization that I may have to lift some of the plants eventually, as the layering gets higher. Not to mention the fact that I will probably want to bring a little more design and maneuverability to my random plantings. This year, I just wanted to get the plants in and established, so I didn't have to keep looking at that flat green expanse.

Hopefully next year I will do less buying, and more rearranging of what's already there. OK OK, are you finished rolling around on the floor laughing? In any case, I think your idea is a good one. One of my fall projects is to convert an old sandbox into a cold frame/nursery bed, so I should be ready in spring.

For now, I'm just trying to figure out the best way to get thru this winter, and continue with the "woodland-izing". This is only my 2nd summer gardening in New England. I'm from the deep south, so I'm still adapting. This whole "winter" thing takes some getting used to.

About leaf shredding. I heard you can chop leaves by putting them in an old garbage can, and using a weed whacker on them

Heh. I don't even have a weed whacker. (See,? I told you I didn't like machines.) However, I am considering renting a chipper/shredder this fall . . . do rental stores usually have them?