As part of any garden bed renovation or revamp, clearing away grass beforehand is essential to success. There are various methods you can employ depending on how quickly and efficiently they must be accomplished.
Sheet mulching involves layering organic material over soil in order to both smother grass and enrich it for planting. Materials used can range from newspaper shreds, coffee grounds or compost.
Digging
With a spade, garden fork or sod cutter in hand, existing grass can be physically removed to create an empty garden bed. Although this method requires considerable labor and patience, the resultant garden space will be ready to plant straightaway without needing chemicals to prep. Plus, it works on all soil types or conditions.
Digging can be done on either a small or large scale and is an ongoing process that works alongside hand weeding to control grasses in gardens. While not suitable for large spaces with thick grass infestations, digging may provide good solutions in smaller gardens.
Be sure to investigate the location of underground utility lines before beginning to dig. Knowing where your water, electric, gas, cable and other utilities are located will ensure you don’t damage or cut any lines accidentally. In the United States call 811 (or your utility company if outside) so they can mark them for free.
Before beginning to dig, water the area to soften it up. Once you’ve marked your plot and used a sharpshooter shovel to dig down approximately a shovel width across and one shovel length deep using the sharpshooter shovel, put all dirt and grass in wheelbarrow and repeat for each row across your yard until all grass and soil have been excavated and then apply a light layer of compost over top for an added finishing touch.
Applying a thick layer of mulch can help maintain moisture and stop weed growth in your garden, as well as adding organic matter, improving soil structure and helping prevent erosion.
If your garden beds lack appeal, try planting a cover crop of clover or winter rye to improve soil health and reduce weeds. When it has finished growing, till it back into the soil before planting vegetables.
Some animals use digging to build runways, burrows and shelter, which damage flower and vegetable beds in the process. Raccoons, gophers and voles are known culprits, leaving behind unsightly runways or dirt mounds which interfere with lawnmowing equipment or create trip hazards; other creatures such as skunks use it for food by creating burrows which destroy ornamental plants, vegetables or flowers by damaging their roots.
Fertilizing
As grass robs vital nutrients from vegetables, it’s best to remove it prior to planting your garden. However, even if existing grass remains, soil amendments can improve its nutrient content and provide optimal conditions for vegetable cultivation.
Fertilizers replace nutrients taken up through their roots by plants, so selecting an appropriate fertilizer is critical for vegetable cultivation. One starting point should be looking at the N-P-K ratio on fertilizer labels: higher numbers represent increased nitrogen addition which promotes leafy growth while fewer P-K numbers provide needed phosphorous and potassium (P-K) required by vegetables to promote root development and fruit formation – so lower numbers should be preferred.
Organic matter such as compost or mulch helps retain moisture in the garden while suppressing weeds. Furthermore, adding this material enriches soil with essential nutrients while simultaneously helping prevent erosion.
Mulching around the edges and rows of your vegetable garden is an essential step in eliminating weeds, so mulching should be part of any plan to rid yourself of them. Try wood chips, pine needles, shredded paper or fruit and vegetable scraps as mulch; eventually these organic materials will break down into the soil, covering up any unwanted plants while feeding back nutrients back into your vegetables’ growing areas.
One effective method for controlling grass in your vegetable garden is layering the bed with organic material like lasagna. Begin by wetting newspaper or cardboard sheets over the grass, before layering a mixture of grass clippings, compost, coffee grounds and fruit and vegetable scraps over them – repeat this process until all grasses and weeds have been eliminated, then plant through it all!
Herbicides may also help kill grass, but this approach requires more laborious weeding efforts. Most gardeners prefer using various strategies to minimize time spent weeding; pulling several weeds daily can help decrease their numbers without disrupting vegetable plants too much.
Vinegar
Acetic acid found in vinegar works to disrupt the cell walls of weeds, killing them. As this is a contact herbicide, only parts of the plant that come into direct contact with it will die. Acetic acid-containing vinegar spray is effective against seedling-stage annual broadleaf weeds; however, spray frequently and reapply after rain for maximum effectiveness. Unfortunately, however, it doesn’t work very well against perennial broadleaf plants like dandelions that have deep-root systems.
Vinegar is a staple ingredient in homemade salad dressings and household cleaning products, making it popular with organic gardeners and homesteader types. However, many people mistakenly assume it can also serve as an effective weed killer; many online recipes for homemade vinegar weed killers claim this is safe and simple to use; this claim often proves false.
Most vinegar weed killer recipes require mixing water and vinegar together in a spray bottle before spraying onto weeds. You should be able to find horticultural vinegar in most grocery store gardening sections; its higher concentration of acetic acid makes it more effective at killing weeds. When spraying vinegar this way, be careful that none of it gets onto any plants nearby as too much vinegar could kill both them as well as themselves!
Another drawback of vinegar is that it can alter soil pH in its vicinity and harm or kill your vegetables and fruit trees. Unless you have plenty of extra vinegar on hand, investing in some real fertilizer would likely be better, along with mulch or companion planting techniques to subdue weeds and control weed growth.
Another popular strategy for eliminating grass in a vegetable garden is covering it with plastic. While this approach might work on larger patches of weeds, small seedlings or young vegetable plants should not be exposed to heat generated from plastic as this will burn and damage them as well as cause them to rot over time.
Hoeing
Hoeing can help whether you have recently moved into a house with a grass-filled garden or want to resurrect one that had fallen dormant; whether the task involves clearing away grass manually or cultivating fallow gardens again. While clearing away grass can be time consuming and labor-intensive, getting rid of excess vegetation is vital in order for healthy vegetable cultivation.
Hoes are versatile agricultural and horticultural hand tools used for shaping soil, clearing away weeds, digging narrow furrows or trenches for planting purposes or harvesting root crops such as potatoes. Available with different blade shapes and lengths designed specifically for specific tasks, hoes are highly functional tools.
Hand-pulling may work for small gardens and raised beds, but hoeing is necessary to prevent weeds from taking over vegetable patches. Weeds rob moisture and nutrients from soil, so their early removal is important to maintaining plant growth. Hoeing can also introduce air into the soil, reduce surface capillary action that draws water away from crop roots, and help rainwater or overhead irrigation penetrate more effectively into soil layers.
Before beginning, ensure the area has been watered thoroughly to loosen and soften the dirt, making it easier to work with. Once dampened, begin spreading cardboard – flattened boxes or newspapers work great – over the area in question and overlap its edges as much as possible before covering with thick layers of wood chips or compost mulch to decompose over time and add valuable nutrients back into the soil as it decomposes. This will reduce weed growth while providing essential nutrients back into your garden as time goes on.
Another effective strategy for controlling grass is the sun. Simply cover it with a black plastic tarp and leave it in place during periods of hot weather for several weeks; heat from the plastic will scorch live grasses and kill seeds, providing nutrients to new vegetables you plan on planting afterward.
If you want a permanent solution for grass in your vegetable garden, perennial herbs like oregano, basil, sage and thyme could provide the answer. Not only do they look pretty; but these perennial plants help deter bugs while attracting pollinators that benefit your plants as well.