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Message: [QUOTE="Jewell, post: 58875, member: 659"] I used to double dig in the sod. Now I use card board laid over my proposed area and covered in mulch and let sit for two seasons or less (depends on moisture). You don't stir up old weed seeds and can cut the cardboard to plant if you are too impatient to wait for the cardboard to start to decompose under the mulch. I did a 30 foot by 100 foot section of my yard using this method three years ago. Have only this year had to do some minor weeding from weed seeds that have blown in or dropped by birds. Make sure you layer the cardboard leaving no gaps. It even smothers dandelions. I am in love with this method. I understand that it works so well because it doesn't disturb the microcosm that makes up good soil structure and naturally lets the sod become part of that structure. What is so wonderful about this method that nature does the tilling. Much of the area that I did this in was an abandoned street that had a lot of the area in old compacted gravel. My only problem was determining where the paths were and where I wanted the beds. Here is what the old weed patch looks like now without using the shovel. It is my woodland garden with Los of hostas, hellebores, ferns, lilies, fox glove and a little lambs ears for the bees. Life couldn't be easier.[ATTACH=full]7728[/ATTACH] [/QUOTE]