Need input on my most recent planting idea

As spring approaches, I'm looking at a new bed we created alongside our driveway. It's approximately 3' x 90' and we tilled the area, pulled out as many Bermuda roots as we could, then built it up with landscape timbers and added a thick "lasagne" mulch of newspaper, leaves and cow manure. I'm turning the leaves and cow manure every few weeks, and they're breaking down nicely.

In the spring, it will be filled with daylilies and I'll add daffodil bulbs along one edge next fall. So far, so good. Here's my idea:

About 4-6 weeks before planting, I'd like to till under the decomposing leaves newspaper and manure.

About 2 weeks before planting, I plan to have a soil test done.

When I plant the dayliles, I'd like to lay down a thick layer of newspaper, plant everything in slits cut in the newspaper, and mulch the top with pine straw or shredded bark mulch (depending on the soil test results.)

What I hope to accomplish is to keep as much of the Bermuda grass that was in this area OUT of the bed while the plants get a year's growth on them. After that, it should become easier to choke out the Bermuda as the plants' roots fill in the bed.

I'd really like input, especially the constructive kind. is there anything you see in my plan that I should do differently? Will the compost make the soil too rich? Could the newspapers cause any possible problems for the daylilies?

And thanks for letting me post this here - I debated whether this should go to the daylily forum or the soil forum, and in the end, figured it was more likely to be seen and commented on in this forum.

The newspaper should not hurt the daylilies, you might want to leave some room for expansion--like for trading for next season (hint , hint) I do not know if this would allow the Bermuda grass an in- never had to deal with that one.

go-vols... I did a small bed something like that (but without all the added manure and leaves), for all my lavendar plants. Not quite as extensive as your efforts, however.

I didn't even take up the grass, just a heavy layer of newspapers over it. I planted the lavender, added the newspaper layer, then several inches of large pine bark mulch. During the first growing season, I had some grass come through, but not much, and it was easy to weed. (We have lots of that darned Johnson Grass here!) I'll need to add more mulch this year, but pleased with the results. I had done that newspaper layer thing with walkways, covered by weedcloth and mulch pretty successfully before... this hard clay makes it so difficult to get all the grass up.

I did start a new, fairly large bed late this summer, taking up the grass, but didn't use newspapers under the mulch. Big mistake! I have weeded some grass out already this fall, and surely will have to do it again in the spring.

Vols it sounds to me like you'll have that burmuda grass under control. Make sure the newspaper is several layers thick and overlapped well. When you cut the holes to plant the daylilies feel around to find any roots that are there. You don't want it coming up in your daylily clumps. I've found that the newspaper does a good job at smothering weeds. Sounds like it will be a nice garden. You'll have to post some pictures.

Thanks for all the input so far! Marcia, I really hope I'll soon have divisions to share. I started buying and trading for daylilies last year, and have a small collection to start with, plus a few more from the current co-op. And a good friend is letting me have her "culls" for the digging this spring. I couldn't possibly afford to fill a bed that big otherwise :) My neighbor has tons of daffodils, and has offered me dibs on as many of them as I want, which will give me a nice start, and I can buy a few special ones to fill in.

Sue, it's so reassuring to know that an extra-thick layer of newspaper won't hurt anything. And I'll take your advice to heart about looking for additional Bermuda roots (they go to China, I think!) when I plant. I'll try to post some pictures when we get it all done.

go_vols, sounds great! I remember White Flower Farm did a border like that, of daffodils followed by daylilies. They also added Oriental Lilies for late season bloom when most of the daylilies are done, giving yet another season of bloom and a totally different look. John

Terry,

It's probably too late for this, but did you consider a Total vegetation killer before putting down the lasagne layers? It will kill off anything it touches. Then add newspaper and the remaining layers on top (after a few weeks). Just a thought.

Hey, Smiln32! Yes, we did consider Roundup (or one of its cousins) and I'm not sure why we didn't use it, other than we just dug in and the next thing you know, I had a bed dug, LOL.

I may use some for whatever comes up between the time we till in the decomposed "lasagna" and when I actually plant. Thanks for the advice :)

It sounds like a great idea, Terry!! I'll bet it will be gorgeous! How about throwing in some bone meal with the mix? Phosphorous makes for great blooms.

I would DEFINITELY use Roundup on that bermuda grass after DIGGING out all you can. No matter how hard you fight it, that stuff keeps coming back until you REALLY kill it for good ~ just like a bad mother in law. ;-) I built a 12" tall raised bed on top of some bermuda about three years ago after pulling up all I could. It started popping up in the bed soon after. I've fought that nasty stuff and fought it and FOUGHT it ~ finally gave up and bulldozed the bed. Guess what I found? Two-foot long horizontal runners at the same level as the original ground with vertical runners going all the way to the top of the soil in the bed. Yep, ELEVEN inches long, from the ORIGINAL grass to the top! AAAAARRRGH!!!! I HATE that stuff! Can you tell? LOL!

Terry, the newspaper will help you win the battle on the Bermuda grass. It will take a while because even tiny little pieces will grow. The runners will go on under the paper till they find a way out. I did a daylily bed like this over bermuda grass. I used newspaper and manure and leaves. Georgous daylilies!!

vols when you lay your newspaper down and plant your bulbs,wet your paper really good, add a good layer of top soil and then your mulch. I have learned the hard way buy not putting top soil on top of the newspapers before laying the mulch. If you get hard rains like we do; sometimes the mulch will wash to one side or completely off the bed and then you have the bare newspapers showing so by putting dirt on top of the papers it will also help keep the newspaper in place. For a bed that size,probably would be cheaper to have some dirt hauled in instead of buying it in the bags cause you should have a good layer of dirt on the newspapers; a good 4 inches of dirt anyway.

Coco, that's a good idea. I have had the mulch wash off before and finally learned to put the compost or manure directly on the paper.Glad you mentioned that.

I used newspaper under hardwood chips to block weeds in my rose garden area. I admit I may have over done it a wee little bit since I put the paper down 20 pages thick and the chips are about 6 inches deep...just a wee bit of overkill...But that was 3 years ago and when I pushed back the chips and cleared an area for adding a new bare root yesterday I was shocked to find the paper all but gone and the earth so full of worms that it fairly writhed with them!
So I really don.t think you can hurt the plants with a few layers of paper. It blocked the bermuda grass for 3 years but the wild morning glories came through after the second year :{

CoCo, the dirt sounds like a very good idea; unfortunately, I don't know if I'll have enough room for 4" of topsoil and then mulch. But the good news is, the mulch shouldn't be able to float away since it will be contained by the sides of the raised beds :)

Zany, I hear you about the wild morning glories - yes, they are rampant here too (wonder if that's why I'm not terribly partial to growing them?) I haven't seen any in this area, although that doesn't mean we won't have our share of weeds to contend with. Twenty thicknesses of newspaper doesn't sound like overkill afterall, LOL!

Something to keep in mind - even after you put in your plants, you can use Post or Over The Top (Post is generally just as effective and is cheaper - at least around here) to control the bermuda. I have had great success with them in controlling grasses in my beds.