krzyk4
Cool Member
Posts: 69
Joined: Fri May 28, 2010 10:28 pm
Location: Edmonton, Alberta

Garden looks like a lawn :(

So hubby and I started a garden at our new house, a spot that had a garden a few years ago and looked pretty much like dead grass so we went ahead and tilled it. I planted my seedlings/seeds. I saw a few grass pieces that I picked away, but now it has rained for a few days and now there is almost a lawn out there! I can't seem to hoe it down so I did the best I could to pull the grass around the plants but it would take me a long time to get all the grass in a 40'x20' spot :(

My question: is it imperative that I get all the grass from between rows? Is grass a weed that will kill the veggies?

Thanks again to all you experts. I am slowly learning.

TZ -OH6
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 2097
Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2008 7:27 pm
Location: Mid Ohio

You can also lay folded newspaper down your rows between plants before mulching. It keeps even more weeds from poking through.

krzyk4
Cool Member
Posts: 69
Joined: Fri May 28, 2010 10:28 pm
Location: Edmonton, Alberta

Okay, that's great!! Happy to know that its not all ruined :D Thanks for the advice.

Bobberman
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 2437
Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2010 10:31 pm
Location: Latrobe Pa.

That is a big problem with tilling especially with grass. I put black plastic over my new garden while the lady taking a spar part of the garden tilled hers. In 5 days hers was loaded with weeds. My other garden has alot of grass with the deep white grass roos. M girlfriend wanted me to till it and I showed her a shovel from spading of how long the grass roots were and cutting them into pieces would make more grass. I spaded it and took all the grass roots out and now its pretty good!
+++
I would use a hoe and scrape the ground between the rows then add the mulch. If it gets no light the grass can't grow too much! I have seen people spray vinegar on the grass then mulch but don't get any on the vegs!

krzyk4
Cool Member
Posts: 69
Joined: Fri May 28, 2010 10:28 pm
Location: Edmonton, Alberta

Ya, I realize now that I shouldn't have tilled it. I've never seen any other way so of course didn't know. I will do what I can this year and I will treat it properly before winter to ensure I have it better for next year. No more tilling :)

Bobberman
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 2437
Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2010 10:31 pm
Location: Latrobe Pa.

Tilling weeds is not as bad as tilling grass especially the wiild grasses with those long roots!

User avatar
Gary350
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7396
Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

Run your tiller between each row to kill the grass.

User avatar
Runningtrails
Senior Member
Posts: 184
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2010 10:52 am
Location: Barrie, Ontario,Canada

When making a new bed. We till early in the spring, again a couple of weeks later and again a couple of weeks after that. We keep tilling every 1.5 - 2 weeks until we plant. It helps kill off the grass.

When I plant, I dig up the row or hill deep and remove all the grass roots before planting. I take that opportunity to dig in some manure too.

When the plants start growing, I then cover the spaces between plants and between rows with cardboard or newpaper and mulch on top.
If using newspaper, keep it thick, at least 6 layers of paper. It takes a lot of newspapers but just one layer of cardboard.

If possible, I till up a new area a few times in late dry summer, then cover the entire thing with cardboard and mulch and just let it sit until spring, layering manure and kitchen compost and garden compost on top as the season and winter goes along. When spring comes, it's a great bed to plant in with very little work.

I made a new bed this year for additional things and a new strawberry bed. I tilled well first, dug up the rows, cleaned them out, dug manure into the rows and planted. Now I am focusing on covering the open row areas with cardboard/paper and mulch, when I can get it. Getting enough material can be hard. I live near the industrial area of town, so make a short trip through there on recycle pick up day for cardboard and shredded computer paper. Shredded computer paper makes great mulch if it's the little stuff. The big stuff just blows away. It's a wood based product and works well to keep the weeds down. It just looks odd, being so white. lol! I always add manure when I plant, to counteract the nitrogen loss from the paper decomposition.

Sometimes I have to turn the sod over to keep the grass down until I can get paper and mulch on it. Those grass roots are nuts!

This year I tilled a grass perimeter around all the gardens. I intended to keep it tilled throughout the summer but we'll see how that goes. It's a new idea. I may decide not to use the fuel. It's getting expensive!

Grass is always a problem. It's a continuous battle. The cardboard and mulch have to be continually replaced to keep the grass and weeds at bay and the edges of the mulched garden have to be dug to keep the grass out - but it's easier then hoeing everything.

krzyk4
Cool Member
Posts: 69
Joined: Fri May 28, 2010 10:28 pm
Location: Edmonton, Alberta

I don't own a tiller and it's $40 for 4 hours to rent, so I am hoping to prep it in the fall for next spring. Today is sunny so I'm going to go out there and see if I can rustle up some cardboard and attack that grass :D

Thanks everyone :D

pickupguy07
Senior Member
Posts: 253
Joined: Thu May 12, 2011 7:06 pm
Location: GA

krzyk4 wrote:I don't own a tiller and it's $40 for 4 hours to rent, so I am hoping to prep it in the fall for next spring. Today is sunny so I'm going to go out there and see if I can rustle up some cardboard and attack that grass :D

Thanks everyone :D
yeah.. at $10 / hour.. you could buy your own before long.
If you wanted a tiller.. might check out some lawn mower repair shops. They always have good used stuff for sale.

krzyk4
Cool Member
Posts: 69
Joined: Fri May 28, 2010 10:28 pm
Location: Edmonton, Alberta

Okay, so I went and robbed the recycling place of a ton of newspaper .. now I need mulch, what do you recommend or even definitely NOT recommend? I would prefer some sort of dirt that's not expensive. Can I use top soil?

garden5
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 3062
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2009 5:40 pm
Location: ohio

Pull/hoe as much of it as you can and then mulch. This will most likely be your best plan of action. If you mulch it over the winter and next season you should be pretty good to go.

User avatar
soil
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1855
Joined: Thu Jan 22, 2009 8:40 pm
Location: N. California

krzyk4 wrote:Okay, so I went and robbed the recycling place of a ton of newspaper .. now I need mulch, what do you recommend or even definitely NOT recommend? I would prefer some sort of dirt that's not expensive. Can I use top soil?
if you add more soil on top of the newspaper you will be adding more weed/grass seeds on top of the newspaper. which will make all the work you did pointless. the point is to cover the "weedy soil" with the newspaper, then cover the ugly newspaper with a seed free mulch. like dried leaves, grass clippings that have not gone to seed, straw or hay. and over time the newspaper decomposes and your topsoil is weed free.

if you go and till that up though, youll bring all those weed seeds from below up and they will grow.

User avatar
donworden
Cool Member
Posts: 72
Joined: Mon Nov 24, 2008 8:01 am
Location: Kalamazoo, Michigan
Contact: Website

Personally, I would rather deal with the grass then the huge grove of maple saplings that sprout in my beds... I swear last year I pulled 500k of them (slightly exagerated). Through the season. One day soon, that dreaded maple tree is coming down.

krzyk4
Cool Member
Posts: 69
Joined: Fri May 28, 2010 10:28 pm
Location: Edmonton, Alberta

Okay, that all makes sense, thank you :D Thanks for all the help and advice! You guys/gals are the best :D

User avatar
Handsomeryan
Cool Member
Posts: 95
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2011 5:57 pm
Location: Mt. Airy MD, USA

If it is not too windy and you are careful you can spray glyphosate in between rows to kill the grass root and all. Just don't get too close to the green stems or leaves of the plants you want to keep.

Be sure and use very low pressure in the sprayer and adjust the nozzle for the largest droplets you can to avoid the chemical from blowing or splashing onto your garden plants.

gardenvt
Green Thumb
Posts: 302
Joined: Fri Aug 13, 2010 11:21 am

There was a time when DH and I worked hard to get grass to grow - now we are working hard to get rid of it. The best method we have found is newspapers covered with mulch.

pickupguy07
Senior Member
Posts: 253
Joined: Thu May 12, 2011 7:06 pm
Location: GA

Yeah.. I am in the same boat. I am going to widen my garden by about 5 feet, and lengthen it by ten feet for next year...
About to put down newspapers, wet it, and then cover it with mulch or plastic to kill the grass.
Seems like the easiest and best way.

Bobberman
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 2437
Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2010 10:31 pm
Location: Latrobe Pa.

What you want as a dirt mulch is dirt without weeds in it! everyone over looks the fact thet most dirt a foot down has very few weeds.! Just dig a hole by first taking off about 9 inches f urface dirt in lets say a 9 by 9 foot area and dig another foot of soil out of the area and use it between and around your plants. The hole you dig ill it up with all types of compost material and use it for a compost pit! You can even start the new compost pit by using the 9b nine area to brn old limbs and brush then cover it with mulch for the compost! Or even use the pit for all the dead produce coming out of your garden!

User avatar
Handsomeryan
Cool Member
Posts: 95
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2011 5:57 pm
Location: Mt. Airy MD, USA

Bobberman wrote:Just dig a hole by first taking off about 9 inches f urface dirt in lets say a 9 by 9 foot area and dig another foot of soil out of the area and use it between and around your plants.
Where do you live that there is +18" of topsoil?! I'm moving there!

Bobberman
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 2437
Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2010 10:31 pm
Location: Latrobe Pa.

The soil at that depth will grow plants but the main thing is it has few weeds! You can mulch I later you will only be using 3 inches cover!

malkore
Cool Member
Posts: 80
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2010 10:03 am
Location: Lincoln, Nebraska

google 'solarizing soil'. you can kill off the grass, weeds, and diseases in a bed or pathway doing it like this, then newspaper and mulch over the top to keep new stuff from taking hold in the clean soil

garden5
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 3062
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2009 5:40 pm
Location: ohio

malkore wrote:google 'solarizing soil'. you can kill off the grass, weeds, and diseases in a bed or pathway doing it like this, then newspaper and mulch over the top to keep new stuff from taking hold in the clean soil
The downside to this method is that you kill off a lot of helpful microbes as well :(. However, if you're just using it as a much, that shouldn't matter too much :).



Return to “Vegetable Gardening Forum”