Hey Guys!!
I am new to this board and I LOVE all the content. It's amazing and so useful!
I am familiar with permaculture practices and want to start transitioning my home to reflect these ideas.
So I have a sloped front lawn and I want to transition it into a no-mow area that supports pollinators. The current soil is clay and I live in the southeast, Zone 7. The area is about 20 feet x 25 feet. You can see it in the attached picture. I roughly know what native plants I need but what I really need help with is, is how to prepare the soil in the most frugal way possible. I would like feedback and I'd like to know if this can be done without building a retaining wall.
I am thinking I should follow this process:
Layer 1: smother lawn with cardboard
Layer 2: add 3 inches mulch
Layer 3: add soil
-How many inches of soil is suggested?
-Will everything stay in place on slope or do I have to take measures to protect against erosion? Can plant rooting mitigate the erosion question fast enough? Thinking lots of fast growing groundcover here.
-What are some alternatives? I was toying with the idea of laying down the cardboard or a weed barrier fabric and then stacking down burlap sacks of mulch and dirt overtop, and fixing them to the ground with stakes.
