Starting a garden quickly using the lasagne method with mulch or no dig method with compost. Keeping your garden low maintenance with compost, mulch and no weeding.

By far the quickest easiest and to my mind the best of way creating a garden is by laying cardboard over grass or weeds and then either adding a thick layer of compost and then planting into that (the no dig method) or by adding mulch on top of the cardboard and planting into the ground beneath (the lasagne method)

Both of these methods are great in my opinion and which you choose will depend on your soil type, and the organic material you have available in your garden. Given the choice I would probably go with the no dig method and this is because I am able to get compost in large quantities from the local dump and a reasonable price. However, if you can't access large amounts of compost cheaply then the lasagne method might be better for you.

The key to either of these methods is in the layering of green and brown organic material, either as a mulch or left in a pile to be composted. I don't get into which mulch is best, as I think that is really for market gardeners rather than backyard gardeners. For us back yard gardeners, the best mulch is just the material you happen to be able to get. You could use grass, hay, straw, old wood chip, shredded cardboard, leaf litter, sawdust or whatever you can access.

The reason for the layering of materials is to aid breakdown. Greens by themselves have the potential to form a wet pile where air can't get in and you end up with anaerobic decomposition, which is not ideal for the garden. By introducing browns, which are rich in carbon and tend to be fibrous in nature, you allow for space for air to get in. The addition of oxygen will mean you get a better breakdown of materials. All the mulch you added in one season will breakdown into a rich compost for the next.