Lasagna Gardening - How to, Quickly, turn a Weed Patch into a Plant-Ready Bed 1. Remove any large stones or debris. 2. Mow the area if you want to. 3. Use a garden hose to lay out a pleasing shape (for a guideline). 4. Cover the area with a cardboard. One layer is enough but you may need to overlap in some places to get coverage depending on the shape of your bed. 5. Soak your newspaper in water in a wheelbarrow until thoroughly wet. 6. Lay entire sections of the wet newspaper on the cardboard until all the cardboard is covered. 7. Without disturbing (moving) the cardboard, cover it with 6-8 inches of bagged soil; a type for raised beds is good. I've used is Kellogg, Whitney Farms and Miracle-Gro. 8. Plant! So easy you can do with your hands. 9. Water very well! Especially important now because our plants can't reach beneath the cardboard and paper at this time. They will be able to do so in about 3 months when everything underneath has composted in place.