Turning lawn into garden on the fly

[LandLeftBehind]

Hi Folks! Glad to be a new member of this community.

I live in Maryland (not sure what growth zone) and I'm looking to build a garden on the fly. I recently started renting a room and my landlord/roommate is pretty receptive to the idea of me building a garden in the backyard. I'm only here for the summer, so I would like to grow as many plants as I can in a short period of time. I have been plotting some strategies and would like to know what you think:

Raised beds - I've read raised beds are the obvious choice for a quick, productive garden. I am very $$$ limited however, so I can only build four (4x4') beds. I have some aged horse manure, which seems looks like a good growth medium, but it has alot of weed seeds in it. Ive already built one bed and planted some cool-weather crops (kale, lettuce, etc.). Growth has been slow, and weeds are becoming a problem, so I'm planning on composting the rest of my aged manure before using it. I'm considering testing for nutrients and pH to see if I need to amend it (I have unlimited free access to aged manure from a family farm by the way, so this is a good resource for me if I can figure out how to use it correctly).

Dug beds - this will need to make up a large part of my garden, as I don't have materials for additional beds. With this I am primarily concerned about not damaging the soil. I have some compost and peat ready to be used, but its quite limited so I had an idea - why not dig specifically where I am going to grow? If I remove a circle of sod with a 3 foot diameter for lets say a squash plant, and amend that soil with plenty of organic matter, will the grass recolonize quickly enough to become a problem? What do you guys think of that strategy? I will likely also double dig some rows.

Alot of this for me is to experiment and learn, but Id like to have a productive garden this summer. If there are any other east-coasters reading this, and tips on when I can begin working the soil would be helpful Cheers!

[applestar]

Sheet mulching is your answer IMHO.
Layer the aged horse manure in the bottom with leaves or paper (high carbon) under the weed suppressing papers. Put compost, peat and weed-free bagged garden/potting soil as top layer to sow seeds. Poke holes in the weed suppressing paper layer and plant started plants with some potting mix into the bottom layers.

[LandLeftBehind]

I would love to sheet mulch! From what I have read though, it can take a whole year for the grass to die and cardboard to degrade. Time is definitely a gardener's best friend. Unfortunately I don't have it

[applestar]

I wouldn't say it takes a whole year. It would have been better to prep the area last fall, but I have built the sheet mulched bed and then planted a month later with decent results.

There ARE crops that are better suited to the new first year bed though, so you may want to make selections based on that criteria rather than simply what you want to grow. The existing grass underneath will be dead and the cardboard will be gone by the end of this growing season, you could plant some cool season crops later, and the bed will improve each year. You may need to contend with grass that try to sneak in from underneath from the surrounding edges, but that would be the case no matter how you prepare.

If you don't mind harder work, you can cut the sod and flip them over in place before sheet mulching on top. This speeds decomposition but is not strictly necessary. I do this by cutting the sod from the paths and flipping them on top of the raised bed area, and scraping the underlying topsoil from the path down to the subsoil. I have several threads with photos of beds made using this process. Last years Spiral Tomato Garden is one example. Sunflower & House a couple of years ago is another.

[LandLeftBehind]

Only a month huh? That definitely makes it more feasible.

I think I'm going to try a variety of methods between raised beds, double digging with ALOT of organic matter, sheet mulching, and maybe even biochar . I'm new to this, so I might as well experiment right?

Ill be sure to look into your threads for more insight to your techniques. Thanks for your help! Ill try to post some results later in the season.