How to choke your lawn

SO you've decided to grow some food where your grass is?  There are several ways to go about this.  Being a fundamentally lazy person, I prefer the easy way to do things.  Sure you could dig out a chunk of grass, flip it over and cover it with fresh dirt and viola, you have a garden where you once had grass.  But I have found that by smothering the grass and then simply covering the area with fresh soil is much easier.  You can smother grass by using something biodegradable like newspaper or cardboard.  Cover this with fresh soil and the grass underneath will certainly die.  The first year you should grow something with shallow roots there, but next year it will be ready to plant something with a deeper root system.  My favorite method is to have the City of Eugene dump the leaves they pick up from the fall leaf pick-up program in my driveway.  From there I can wheelbarrow them to another part of the yard and dump them right on the grass, no newspaper needed!