Hey everyone. I have a fairly decent size backyard in which we used to have two large vegetable gardens. This was over 15 years ago. Now the garden is all grass. I would like to start a small vegetable garden once again. Here are my questions.
1) what tool(s) should I use to remove the grass
2) what tool(s) should I use to loosen up the soil beneath the grass
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Degenerate
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The Helpful Gardener
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While not a huge fan of machinery, the two EASIEST tools would be a sod cutter (rental) and a roto-tiller (a rental for me, but lots of misguided folks own them. Shouldn't use them more than that first time or your soil starts to turn to powder and that's not good for anyone, especially your plants...)
Scott
Scott
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wingdesigner
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Wow! Thanks, Scott, for that last post. I've been contemplating buying an electric tiller, but you brought up a good point--I don't want to pulverize my soil, just break it up some. Too bad they don't come with "coarse-medium-fine" settings like blenders. Hmm, now there's a thought--electric soil blenders...hmm...
Happy Gardening
Wingdesigner
Happy Gardening
Wingdesigner
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opabinia51
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If you don't want to pulverize your soil, the sure fire way to get rid of weeds and aerate your soil is to use a shovel. It is a lot more work but, worth the effort in the long run.
Tilling breaks down the soil, kills beneficial fungi, worms insects and disturbs colonies of beneficial soil bacteria.
Tilling breaks down the soil, kills beneficial fungi, worms insects and disturbs colonies of beneficial soil bacteria.
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The Helpful Gardener
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opabinia51
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Another consideration is to make as many veggie plots as needed and separate them with paths. Make the plots no more than 3 feet across but as long as you want. Between the plots create a path that will be for walking and remember to leave enough room to kneel. The idea being to keep the plot width narrow enough that one does not have to walk onto it but can maintain it from the path area. The path can be covered with one section of black/white newsprint and the paper covered with grass clippings that have not been chemically treated. This might save weeding an entire area and will go a long way toward preventing compacted soil in the growing plot.