bad ugly choppy lawn

Hi Everybody ~ I'm a newbie, name's Holly (Luvmoss) you people are the greatest! Now to the problemo...Preface: We did not create this situation, we bought it.
Level of ground in back @ pool very uneven, currently grass, spotty mostly shade...Who in the he++ would put a gorgeous pool on the edge of state forest surrounded by 200 year old oaks and pines? Well our cats are avid hunters so mole , vole, etc, are gone. Now to level the ground before I make lasagna: what to use for fill? Inexpensive would be cat litter but not sure I want clay. Over the top of the lasagna is going to b creeping Thyme.
Thanks in advance.
Holly

In my experience creeping thyme does beautifully in a "loamy rockgarden" situation. I have one that I planted last year, and another I just started. Both were more or less by "lasagna method, although the first I direct planted and the second will not be planted until spring.

First make sure the drainage is perfect by digging down at least 2 feet in the area you will be planting. Reserve the soil you took out on a tarp or something. put a fine layer of gravel at the bottom of the dug out area. Then put back in layers of chopped up leaves,pine needles, dry grass, even shredded paper. (I used the compressed paper pellets from a friend's rabbits on the last one), alternating with the original soil mixed THOROUGHLY with some kind of nitrogen compost like manure. Try not to step on the area you are filling back in, because you want to avoid compessing the soil. After you have a mound about 6" above the level of the surrounding ground, water it well and let it sit undisturbed at least overnight. A week would be better. After you have let it settle, put on a final layer of fluffy stuff, preferably something fine enough to plant into. Carefully cover this mound with rocks varying in size from 1" pebbles to 3" chuncks. Don't worry about any kind of design, because the thyme (or other creeping groundcover) is going to cover it up anyway. Water it, then let it settle until you are going to plant in it. A few days may work in the heat of summer, but I prefer several months of freeze and thaw, which will help settle the rocks very firmly.

When you are ready to plant, have on hand a bit of builder's sand, well rinsed. Pry aside a few rocks, pop in the plug of thyme (or veronica, or sedum), cover the roots with dirt, then pack a tiny bit of the builders sand around the crown of the plant. Carefully replace the rocks so they are not pressing on the plant directly, and so the plant can flow up and over the rock as needed.

The first picture shows the echeveria & sedum rock garden (mainly in lower left of photo) I planted last spring. I used relatively large rocks, but the technique was as I explained above.

This message was edited Dec 3, 2006 4:27 PM

This is the new rock garden I will begin planting out in march. There are already several hundred allium, crocus, and dutch iris in here. I am waiting for a shipment of minitaure daffodils before I lay the final layer of organic material and then fine rocks over the top. Right now it is under several inches of snow...which should do a beautiful job of both watering it and smooshing the layers down without compressing the soil.

That's beauty, thanks so much for the advice.