Starting a new flower garden - am I too late for my zone

I have an area of grass that I want to turn into a flower garden. I'm planning on using layered newspaper, compost, greens/browns, etc. but is it too late to start this here in zone 4 - Minnesota so I can plant in this area in the spring? Is there anything I could add to speed up the process? The area is on the east side of the house and only gets about 3 hours of sun each morning, so am planning to put in mostly shade/part shade plants. I've found a wealth of information on this site and so thought this would be the place to go for an answer. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Fall is my favorite time to start this technique. It should be fine by the time you are ready to plant in spring. Some people plant in a lasagna bed the day they build it.

If I start this time of year, such a bed makes for wonderful soil next year. Granted I am in a warmer zone than you, but our winters are cold, too. It's below freezing for weeks at a time and often gets to the 0 to 10 degree range. And no doubt I plant much earlier than you do in spring. I'm a wintersower and often I plant perennial seedlings as early as April. Tender annuals don't go out until mid-May.

I'm building a couple of raised beds now- a few inches of soil topped by as much organic matter as I can gather in the next few weeks.

Karen

luvpeonies, I agree with Karen that this is a great time of year to start a lasagna garden for spring planting. I've done this three falls in a row and always had good soil by late May, when I'm ready to plant out more tender plants and seedlings (and yes, lots of WS ones.)

In fact, two weeks ago I created a new lasagna flower bed in which I'm going to be planting some hardy perennials over the next few weeks--not even waiting for Spring.

How are you planning to handle the pieces of lawn that you are removing for the new bed? I slice the grass into squares and turn it upside down. I then put down a thick layer of cardboard and newspaper, and add on the other materials. The grass layer is always pretty much absorbed by spring and doesn't grow back up into the bed--plus I've gotten an extra layer of soil out of it.

luvpeonies - You have a great idea. By spring you should have a nice bed to plant in. I'm taking a couple of days off next week just so I can reinvent my garden - which will include tackling the last of my Burmuda Grass!

Wish me luck! BG is as determined to live, as I am to kill it. LOL

Thanks!
I will be working on it this weekend.

I'd love to see before/during/after photos, if you're willing to post them.