grass between rows

[joecarrr]

New guy here. I've been lurking for a while but never posted.
I just moved into a new house and I'm getting ready to dig out the garden. I have this Idea to leave grass in between rows. I figure it will be way easier to dig out the grass and it will leave somewhere to walk without compressing the soil. Has anyone done this or seen it before? Can anybody foresee any problems? Will the grass take too much water and nutrients from the Vegetables? I plan to spend lots of time in the garden and don't mind keeping the grass edged back away from the plants.

[rainbowgardener]

My off hand thought about this is that you will need to mow the grass which means you would need to make your grass paths wide enough for your mower. That might mean more of your garden is given over to grass than veggies. Especially if you literally mean rows. One row of veggies with 30-36" of grass on both sides wouldn't be very efficient. Lots of us these days garden more in beds than rows. I think that would work better if you want to do the grass paths. Make a 4 foot wide bed and fill it with veggies and then do the paths.... I don't think the grass would hurt the veggies much if you can actually keep it out of the beds, but that sounds like a lot of work. Otherwise you can dig out your paths a few inches, put the soil you dug where the beds will be. Then your path won't be very suitable for growing anything, because the topsoil was removed, but your beds will be deeper with lots of topsoil. Just put burlap or carpet scraps or mulch or anything on the paths so they don't get muddy. However, if you don't mind the work of mowing your paths and keeping the grass out of the beds, your green paths would make a beautiful looking garden!

[2cents]

joe,
try this question in the permaculture forum and see what response you get, those guys may have a few good ides.

[smokensqueal]

Joe, Sounds like you might want to look into SFG Square Foot Gardening. Instead of doing things in rows it does them in little square foot areas with a path between a 4x4 or 4x8 area.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Might work, but including a weed in my garden is just anathema to me. If I was going to plant in the rows in between I'd use clover to fix atmospheric nitrogen, but clover will move too...

I spend a good deal of time on any bed I make cutting out the turf; harder but worth it in the long run. Then I just use clippings in the rows as mulch...

HG

[Midnight Gardener]

If I can't eat it or show it and it grows then it doesn't get near my garden. You may want to consider sguare foot gardening or raised beds. I had a similar problem and this is what I did;

[img]https://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc81/digital686/garden04_09_08a.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc81/digital686/garden4_26_08b.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc81/digital686/100_0748-1.jpg[/img]

[The Helpful Gardener]

Very nice MG! Good use of space...

MG's way uses the space to it's entirety, shading corn from weeds with pumpkins, corn flowers right up near each other where the breeze will pollinate them well (corn is wind pollinated). Air gap around the back for circulation...good job. Very nice...

Grass is a very nitrogen competitive plant; it's why roses hate it so. Just not a good idea around plants you want to do well...

HG

[joecarrr]

update.

I got it all done and planted. So far so good. I think it looks nice and will look even better with veggies growing in it.



[img]https://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/sweetwhitney/Photo_051409_002.jpg[/img]

[zstokes85]

I started my first garden this year, and I did exactly as you did. Yours looks much better than mine, I love the square ends. Anyway, I have had no problems except for keeping the grass cut. See, I didn't think it through and the rows are too close together especially when the squash took off. So I have to weedeat at an exetremly slow pace twice a week. Other than that; my 8 tomato plants are doing awesome(some are 4ft already), my squash is already putting off and my peppers and green beans are coming along well also. I think it looks pretty good leaving the grass in between like that.

[pepper4]

Thanks Midnight Gardner I have the perfect spot and you gave me a great idea for next year.

[hendi_alex]

Wonderful garden midnight gardener. Looks better than anything I've ever grown. Also noticed that little critter running around. Here are ours.

One young, kind of shared between my daughter and us.
[img]https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3598/3379567876_033de62221.jpg[/img]

One old. We've had her since she was a pup.
[img]https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3604/3379567288_8c84ca4678.jpg[/img]

[joecarrr]

Just incase anybody cares, I figure I would update the thread. Grass between rows turned out good. I don't regret it at all.

If ya wanna see more pics of the garden go to my album

[url]https://picasaweb.google.com/joecarrr/GARDENPICTURES8209#[/url]

[img]https://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/sweetwhitney/GEDC0491.jpg[/img]

[gixxerific]

Looks nice like that, but how is it to keep the grass at bay? I have no weeds in my garden the only thing that comes in is the grass on the borders. But that is mainly because of my fences it's hard to cut it there and it grows a lot taller. The thing that is on my mind is the competition for nutrients. That COULD pose a problem, but maybe not enough if done properly.

Midnight I dig your setup I am thinking of doing something similar myself. Not so big and with a row coming off the right. So the 45* section wouldn't be fully point to point but stop more at a mid point with a leg shooting off of that

Just looked at your pics pretty cool. You got stuff everywhere. I could swear that shadow was me.

Dono

[joecarrr]

The weeds are actually less of a problem in this garden than they are in my other "traditional" garden on the other side of the house. I started with lawn there and pulled up all the sod instead of tilling it in. As far as maintenance, as long as I cut and weed whip it ever time I cut they rest of the lawn it's fine. I am running into a little problem with wider plants like the zuccini but I just prunned that a little and I can mow right through. As far as competing for nutrients... well, I have no way of telling for sure, but most of the plants seem fine.

[Jordan Maria]

joecarr, this is a genius idea! thanks for sharing. I had the same idea and I am very happy somebody else has tested it in practice. It is really a permaculture idea and it is similar to pasture cropping they practice in Australia. Check about Collin Seis's Winona experiments and you will see the resemblance. In pasture cropping they plant cereal crops in living pastures. Check it out. If you research more about the soil food web, you will see why this system is genius - basically you are not destroying soil life.

[imafan26]

I have seen lawn between rows before. The gardener that did it had raised beds and that kept the grass from encroaching. But he did spend a lot of time maintaining the grass.