So I'm a first time gardener, I tried to quickly turn half of my backyard lawn into a vegetable garden. I didn't rent a tiller I did it all with a digging fork and and it looked good I spent a huge amount of time on my hands and knees pulling grass from the soil. I mounded it up into three beds with about 18" paths in between. I bought seeds and seedlings from the local Home Depot and Got them planted.
About two weeks go by and every thing looks good but I start to see a few blades of grass, I just pull them and am not concerned. The next day more grass! So I dig down trying to get to the roots with disturbing my seedlings. Today MUCH more grass! I'm upset now and grab my digging fork and turn over a section where there aren't to many seedlings. I am shocked and truly hurt by what I see! Huge amounts of very healthy grass shoots Some have reached the surface others are on there way!
I know now that I have messed up big time, I will have to turn it all over and do a MUCH better job of getting that grass out!
I would like you guys to help with any tools or techniques that I can use to not have this happen again. Please don't think you have to spare my feelings, I know I did wrong so let me have it.
Last edited by Lunacy on Mon Apr 26, 2010 3:45 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Not laughing at you, but at the memories of myself doing the exact same thing when I planted my first garden!
You might be able to salvage some of your plants by moving them into containers, while you take care of the grass problem. You could lay plastic to kill the grass. Using a tiller wouldn't have prevented the return of the grass. In fact, any time you turn over the soil by any method, you're exposing new weed seeds, which will sprout and grow.
Best wishes to you! Things can only get better for you!
Did you flip the sod grass-side down? Well, this should work either way. ALL IS NOT LOST.
Now I hesitate to recommend cardboard at this point because ideally you should let that sit for about a month. I think I'll recommend layers of newspaper/newsprint. PICK A DAY WITH NO OR LITTLE WIND FOR THIS.
Rake the mounds smooth as possible, put some compost (unfinished/unscreened/weedy is fine) on top and distribute. Soak the mounds down with water. Cover with 4~6 sheet layer of newspaper/newsprint/shipping kraft paper -- If you have a helper, have someone spray them down as you put them down, or lay them down and weighted down as you go, then spray with water, or soak first in water. The 4~6 sheet newspaper layer WILL KEEP THE GRASS FROM GROWING THROUGH. Add a 2~3" layer of finished weed-free compost and/top soil and/or potting soil on top.
Plant your seeds in the good soil on top. After they start growing and as they grow, mulch with straw, dried grass clippings and unflowered weeds, and/or leaves, shredded paper, etc.
For transplants, lay a 2~3" layer of mulch, push mulch aside, poke/cut into the paper to allow roots to grow down, and plant.
GOOD LUCK. You may not see amazing results this year. It'll depend on what you grow, but you should start to see a lot of earthworm activity within a month or so, and all that sod will break down into lovely soil. IF you don't dig them all up and expose the underlying weed seeds (like Kisal said), you'll have amazing garden beds for planting fall crops and next spring.
Last edited by applestar on Mon Apr 26, 2010 2:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
You could lay newspaper in layers everywhere around your plants then cover that with compost or manure. Then you can dig a hole to plant your seedlings and sprinkle seeds to dirct seed. The news paper should be soft enough after a while for the roots.
Thank all for your reply's. I will try the newspaper around the plants. But I have some beans planted close together that I know I will lose but my tomatoes should be fine.
This is a hard lesson to learn, but I will be better for it.
Every spring my garden is grass and chick weed. I till it every day for a whole week. The tiller beats the grass and weeds to death and they die. It leaves the soil all fluffed up and ready to plant.
Take a look on craigs list see if you can find a good used tiller.
I looked into buying a new tiller this year but what is being sold is throw away. It is not made to last long and it can not be repaired. I have a 20 year old tiller so I bought a new 5 HP Briggs engine for it. I put the 20 year old carburetor on the new engine the new carburetors are not adjustable and can not be repaired either.
Every one has to find a garden style that works for them. But tilling the garden, especially repeatedly, kills all the earthworms, disrupts the soil fungi and other soil biology that we want to have, dries it out, etc. (Besides the expense of buying or renting a tiller). Gary says his way works for him, but he also writes about the expense of having to repeatedly buy tons of soil amendments to keep adding.
No till methods that people were describing above, preserve all the nutrients and life of the soil.
Repeated tilling probably would not help you that much because, although it may kill the grass, it will expose more weed seeds to the environment, allowing them to grow. What everyone said about the newspapers is really a good bet for you.
Now, I was going to suggest solarizing the soil (which probably does more microbiological harm than tilling), but I thing that it only really helps with weeds that present on or near the soil's surface. From what you are saying, you problem lies deeper. I'd say that smothering them is your best bet.
Look at it this way: by next, you will have some organic matter in you soil, thanks to the grass.
Gary350 wrote:Every spring my garden is grass and chick weed. I till it every day for a whole week. The tiller beats the grass and weeds to death and they die. It leaves the soil all fluffed up and ready to plant.
Take a look on craigs list see if you can find a good used tiller.
I looked into buying a new tiller this year but what is being sold is throw away. It is not made to last long and it can not be repaired. I have a 20 year old tiller so I bought a new 5 HP Briggs engine for it. I put the 20 year old carburetor on the new engine the new carburetors are not adjustable and can not be repaired either.
My neighbor just bought a new tiller this year, the old one lasted 40 years. I myself own and use weekly a weed eater that was given to me by my grandfather, it is one year older than I, I was born in 87.
there seems to be an abundance of ohio people in here- OH!...
