Need advice on how to remove grass from hedges area.

[mamey77]

Hello,

Last year I planted some hedges (Clusia) along my front yard fencing, but never did any ground prepping.
I did not remove the grass around the hedges, don't have any mulch. Only the hedges are planted.

My issue is the following, I dislike using the trimmer around the hedges to trim the grass. I would like to get rid of the grass all around the hedges section. Was thinking about round up but I'm sure that will be harmful to the hedges.

I'm a novice when it comes to landscaping, any helpful suggestions on this topic at hand would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

[rainbowgardener]

No lazy way.... get down there with a trowel, hoe, sod remover or whatever your favorite hand tool is and dig the grass out by the roots.

After you have cleared the area, dig a trench and put some kind of edging material to help keep the lawn from coming back into the hedge area:



in a pinch, you can skip the edging and just do the trench:

barrier trench.jpg (75.68 KiB) Viewed 1349 times

it just needs to be a little deeper than the roots of the grass you were pulling out and 4-6" wide. It's not a permanent solution, but will work for a few months.

After all the grass is dug out around them, mulch the area around the bushes deeply.



any half way measures, including the round up, will have you out there all the time, trying to maintain it.

[Lindsaylew82]

Agree!

[mamey77]

@rainbowgardener

thx for your response and great pictures.

[applestar]

OK lazy gardener here

I often just put down cardboard and cover with decorative mulch if absolutely necessary. Give them a few weeks and the grass will weaken considerably. In the mean time, concentrate first on the grass on hedges side of the cardboard -- pull out, dig out, etc.

Cardboard is NOT permanent solution in this case since you want to really clear the area out.

Later, go back and do what Rainbowgardener suggested to edge -- slice and sever through roots -- and trench, thoroughly dig up and then mulch. But do this before the cardboard has completely deteriorated.