Killing Grass safely in a vegtable garden

[Zap]

Last year in the sping we put down what we were told was plain hay in our vegtable garden as gound cover. Turned out to be seed hay and now we've got a tall grass problem to beat the band.

What's the best way to kill it off (and it's seeds) to avoid all this weeding next year. Is there a safe product that will kill it but leave the soil fertile for edible plants next year?

Thanks for any help.

[opabinia51]

I have found that just digging it up with a shovel works best. I then place the grass (with roots) into my hot compost.

Other's on the site use vinegar which seems to work well too.

[daylily]

Try and remove as much as you can before it seeds.

In my beds, I place newspaper down and top that with either mulch, compost or my grass clippings. This keeps the weeds to nothing and helps retain the water.

I also use this method when making new beds. The only thing I do different is use more newspaper layer.

[opabinia51]

Yes, newspaper! Thanks Daylily, I hadforgotten about that!

Just be sure to only use black and white articles and colour inks have dioxins in them that are detrimental to soil organisms and plants.

[Zap]

So, I pull out the grass and lay down newspaper in the fall & leave it there all winter? I'm sort of confused.

[decam0]

I think you need to just cut the grass short (before it seeds) and then put the newspaper on top. You could also use old carpet or black plastic sheet - anything to keep the daylight out.

[opabinia51]

People in permaculture commonly use carpets but, I prefer to use something that breaks down quicker. Newspaper will do the trick. I pesonally don't use newspaper, Just leaves. Newspaper has a C:N ratio of about 2000:1 and is therefore slow to break down and does use up a large amount of the nitrates in the soil when it is breaking down.

I personally like leaves because they have a C:N ratio of about 400:1 and they contain both micro and macro nutrients that newspaper doesn't contain. But, this is a widely use process in organic and permaculture circles. I'm just letting you know about my personal preference.

[Zap]

Are there any chemicals I can use that kill the grass and will get the seed, but be safe for growing veggies in the spring?

[opabinia51]

People around here have mentioned using vinegar but, generally speaking it is really really bad idea to start using herbicides because they not only kill the plants that you want to get rid of, they also kill the micro flora that lives in the soil and the fauna and micro fauna that live in the soil.

When you do this, you encourage disease organisms to grow in the soil. Also, with all the good stuff in the soil gone, matter is not broken down anymore and the nutrients of the soil are used up with nothing to replace them. Then, we become reliant on using salt based fertilizers (which further damage the soil ecosystem) and do not replace soil nutrients.

Anyway, the best thing you can do to have the best vegetable garden is either remove the grass or simply turn it over and add some mulched leaves followed by manure. The leaves will smother the grass that still remains and the manure will aid in the leaves breaking down, and the remaining grass roots in breaking down and the result will be really great soil for your vegetables.

Use a composted manure and you can plant right on top to have a nice crop of winter vegetables.