New herb garden

I miss growing herbs - the scents wafting through the air on a hot day, the buzz of bees and fluttering of butterflies around the plants. I know this seems incongruous for a professional herb grower, but I have no herbs around my house.
We moved into our new house two years ago and have done very little landscaping. For the past 14 years we have lived in the woods with lots of shade. And it is ironic that a landscaper and nursery owner would not have a lawn or landscaping, but both of us like the fact that we don't have to work while we are home (except for the vegetable garden, which is a huge chore for several months of the year).
But I really want a herb garden close to the house. Even though the nursery is just up the hill from the house, it is far enough to make it inconvenient to walk there to cut fresh herbs when you are in the middle of cooking. So I am making a new bed out the back door where I can grow herbs and other sun-loving plants.
I am using the lasagna or no-dig method of bed building. My business partner Sharon always uses this method now at her house. It sounded easier than digging up the hard soil that surrounds the house. However, it took me 3 hours to put down all the layers which was longer than I anticipated.
Here is my process:

Put down a layer of cardboard or sheets of newspaper. I had cardboard boxes from work which I decided to use. I congratulated myself on recycling, but once I pulled the boxes apart I realized they had metal staples that needed to be removed and packing tape all over them. I pulled all the staples and tried to remove all the tape, which would have made a great video as it stuck to my hands, then back on the box, then on my hands, on and on. I finally got most of the tape off and laid the cardboard on the bare ground. Then I watered it.

I have a lot of fallen leaves from the oak trees surrounding the house, so I raked them up and added a six-inch layer of leaves on top of the cardboard. I sprinkled it all with organic fertilizer, then watered again. The fertilizer helps the leaves break down.

The final layer is compost. I wish I could say I made this compost myself, but I used bagged composted cottonburrs that I bought at Blue Moon Gardens. I think it is great compost and it is made here in Texas, using the by-product of cotton ginning. It smells awful after you put it out, but the odor dissipates in a few days. I will plant directly into this mixture in a few days. It is only about 5 inches tall. Eight inches would have been better, but this was the best I could do. I will do a larger area in the next couple of weeks and post updates on how the bed is progressing. The bamboo muhly grass (the tall tufts of tan on the right) should be green by the end of the month.
Now I just need to figure out how to hide the grill and the smoker.