Starting a new garden! Conflict on the grass! Please share

[J and M]

We are new to veggie gardening. We have a nice, friendly neighbor who is going to use his tractor to turn over the soil. But his idea is to burn off the grass first. We don't think this sounds correct since the amount of nutrients in that top soil is so good! Please help clarify for us. Are we just not understanding or does this sound as crazy as we think! We have been flower gardening for years and have been very successful. Thanks in advance!

[Lupinus]

if the grass isn't dad when you turn it over, it's liable to pop right back up. I dug mine up and tossed it in a pile, others dig it out flip it and let the roots die.

I suppose burning it might work though.

[smokensqueal]

It might be to early in the morning but I sure can't think of the group of South Americans that have used the burn method for thousands years and has worked great for them. I know people that will pile leaves and left over garden scraps on their garden each year and burn it. It's something about the ash that really helps the ground. There are others that say that you should absolutely not do this.

But in your case you may want to do this to help kill the grass so it doesn't come back up. And it will come back up no matter how well it's tilled for the first year or so. I would say go ahead and burn. The ash won't hurt anything and the chance of the sod to regrow will be knocked down quite a bit.

[hendi_alex]

I remember studying the so called "slash and burn" method of farming the tropical rain forest areas in S.A. The soil holds almost zero nutrients and the burned vegetation releases enough nutrients for the plot to be planted three or four seasons. So yes, burning is not a bad idea for your situation, though with rich soil, is not really necessary IMO. As far as the jungle slash and burn, over the next few seasons the soil becomes totally devoid of nutrients and turns into a near brick like surface that makes it very difficult for the jungle to reclaim the previously farmed areas. I hope that the practice has been discontinue or reduced in those critical habitats.

[Venomous_1]

It's not as crazy as it may sound. At the end of a growing season I let the weeds grow up in my garden. By about January they are 2-3 feet high, brown and very dry. I pull out the garden hose (just in case), light a match, and whaaaalaaa! Up it goes. It only takes about 30 minutes to burn off. I then top it with fertilizer and let it sit for a few weeks until I have a good day to till it in.

This injection of soot does wonders for the soil. In fact, most of the 'old farmers' in my area do this and swear by it. They even put their fireplace or burn pit ashes into the garden throughout the winter.

Oh, and it will also reduce the weeds that grow back from normal tilling.

Hope this helps...Richard in TN

[J and M]

Thanks to everyone for your replies! We appreciate it so much! I am sure we will have more questions soon![/b]