Lasagne gardening

I was able to enlist my mother to help me with digging up the garden to prepare it for winter.  I have wanted to do this for a long time, and have been planning it since last year, but I've had to put it off until now because things have been too busy.  I also needed someone to help me because now that I'm pregnant, I am on a strict 'no-dirt' rule, not to avoid getting toxaemia as there aren't any cats around, but for listeria.  If you're not avoiding one disease, it's another when you're pregnant.  We didn't exactly give up on the rule because I was wearing rubber gloves, but I ended up doing some digging as there was soooo much work to do.  

Even though the tomato trees still had quite a few itty bitty tomatoes and flowers, we dug them all up.  We left the peppers because they survive in mum's climate.  I'm sure they'll die soon but that's no biggie. It's hard to remember how cold it gets, especially because I had my winter jacket on all last week but this week has been very warm again.  

In this cold winter climates we can plant seeds before the first frost as they should thrive if they've been in the dirt during a long, cold winter.  The risk you take comes from the fake spring frosts which can throw them off course.  They will possibly sprout up and die if there is a heavy frost or more snow.  We planted tulip, daffodil, and snow crocus bulbs.  I also scattered a bunch of seeds I'd collected over this passed season.  Mum wasn't quite sure about this idea but I've read and talked about it quite a bit and am excited to see what grows.  We laid down a bed of paper and leaves and then compost.  I had to buy the compost as mine still needs another year or two before it's good and ready to use.  These layers are why we call it lasagne gardening.  

This all sounds very civilised, doesn't it?  The reality is that we didn't do anything in the right order because we were in a hurry.  I was scattering seeds after the leaves had been spread, for example, so they're not very deep.  I'm also worried about the depth of the bulbs as others I have planted have been quickly found by the chipmunks or rabbits which like to visit.  We haven't seen any recently so they might be safe.  Our garden looks really bizarre now, with paper and leaves not quite hidden by dirt.  They seem to be holding in the wind, as opposed to last year when I didn't cover the leaves at all and they all blew away the day I laid them out.  I always feel great after doing some proper work in the garden.  My mum's a 'real' gardener but she was very complimentary about our tiny plot.