• Register  |
  • LoginLogin
Close
Login
 
 
Register
 Advanced search
  • Search
  • Register
  • Login
  • JOIN!
  • View unanswered posts
  • View active topics
  • Gardening
Gardening Forum   VEGETABLE GARDENING DISCUSSION FORUMS  Vegetable Gardening Forum

grass in garden




Post a new topic
Post a reply
13 posts • Page 1 of 1

grass in garden

Tue Jul 04, 2017 12:24 am

I got grass in my vegetable garden I guess from mowing nearby so I want you to know if it's OK to let the grass grow or it's a bad idea . my thinking is it might help from insects invasion but my worry is if the vegetable plants would get enough nutrients or not . See attached. Any help is appreciated. thx
Attachments
image.jpeg
grass2
image.jpeg
grass
kommong2
Newly Registered
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Jul 4 '17
Top

Re: grass in garden

Tue Jul 04, 2017 12:29 am

You do not want grass anywhere near your veggies. Grass is extremely invasive and will spread and choke out your veggies in no time.
bri80
Senior Member
 
Posts: 282
Joined: Nov 19 '16
Location: Portland, OR
Top

Re: grass in garden

Tue Jul 04, 2017 12:37 pm

Yeah, I can barely see veggie plants in there. They are being seriously overtaken by the grass and will not survive much longer. The grass gets very tall when not mowed and you can't mow it when your veggies are mixed in there. So the grass doesn't only steal soil nutrients and water, it steals sun as well.

Sorry, I know it's a lot of work to get rid of, but that is what gardening is like. :shock: Once you have dug all the grass out with a hand trowel, you can slow it down from coming back by digging a little ditch in front of your veggies. It just needs to be say 5" deep and 3" wide or so; you can just dig it out with your trowel. Pile the dirt you dig out in your veggie plot and then cover it with mulch. Not a permanent solution, but it slows the grass down a lot.

fence line planting 1.jpg


This is a fence line flower bed that has been dug out of the lawn and given the ditch edging. I weed it and re-do the ditch early in the season and probably once more later and that takes care of it pretty well.
Twitter account I manage for local Sierra Club: https://twitter.com/CherokeeGroupSC Facebook page I manage for them: https://www.facebook.com/groups/65310596576/ Come and find me and lots of great information, inspiration
User avatar
rainbowgardener
Super Green Thumb
 
Posts: 25281
Joined: Feb 15 '09
Location: TN/GA 7b
Top

Re: grass in garden

Tue Jul 04, 2017 6:02 pm

yes, keep the grass out, it is a heavy feeder and will suck out nutrients and water from the garden. Not to mention all the roots you would have to keep pulling out. Put an edge around the garden bed. I used bricks laid down next to my borders. It provided a mowing strip for the lawn mower. The wheels of the lawn mower roll on the bricks. Otherwise it is hard to cut close to the bed. Even with a weed whacker it is good to have a mowing strip to save on broken lines and beheaded plants.
Happy gardening in Hawaii. Gardens are where people grow.
imafan26
Mod
 
Posts: 10915
Joined: Jan 1 '13
Location: hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.
Top

Re: grass in garden

Wed Jul 05, 2017 1:40 am

Yes, the grass has to go.
Gardening at 5000 feet elevation, zone 4/5 Northern Utah, Frost free from May 25 to September 8 +/- Plant a Garden
User avatar
jal_ut
Super Green Thumb
 
Posts: 7480
Joined: Jan 19 '09
Location: Northern Utah Zone 5
Top

Re: grass in garden

Wed Jul 05, 2017 5:23 pm

Thank you all. I would try to pull out all the grasses. Actually I did prepare my garden good before putting veggies in but I guess grass seeds from mower flew to the garden when I mowed my lawn. I didn't want to deal with mulch around veggies so I let the grass grow. Would grass clippings help as mulch? I hate wood mulch so any other easier way to keep veggie plants protected?

Thanks again.
kommong2
Newly Registered
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Jul 4 '17
Top

Re: grass in garden

Thu Jul 06, 2017 12:44 am

You can take newspaper and cover the ground around the plants with about 4 layers, then mulch with grass clippings on top of the newspaper.
Gardening at 5000 feet elevation, zone 4/5 Northern Utah, Frost free from May 25 to September 8 +/- Plant a Garden
User avatar
jal_ut
Super Green Thumb
 
Posts: 7480
Joined: Jan 19 '09
Location: Northern Utah Zone 5
Top

Re: grass in garden

Thu Jul 06, 2017 2:16 am

Grass will consume everything. Only thing it is good for is a winter cover crop like winter rye. Stuff is hard to get rid of too.

I took the easy way out: got a long roll of 6' wide, breathable / water permiable, heavy duty landscape fabric and cut it into 2' x 20' strips and lay that down between the rows. I cover the last 3" from the fabric to the plants with clean grass clippings at about 2" thick which mats down to 1/2" - 3/4".

So, my rows are 30" apart, or 6" of exposed soil between the strips of fabric which I hold down with bricks, because I never see the rocks when I use them and end up tripping over the rock.

"Clean Grass Clipping" (to me) no pesticides nor herbicides for the past year. Also, the worms seem to love the grass

Given those images, I would edge what was necessary to get the plants freed up and cover the rest with anything you have on hand to block the grass from getting sunlight, cardboard, newspaper, black plastic, anything to suppress the growth and weed very regularly and get everything you can out. Don't be surprised if it takes a year or two.

I bought the really heavy duty landscape fabric, woven synthetic fibers and sort of shiny on one side and it is fuzzy on the other. Have reuse the same 2' x 20' strips for 10 years with no issues.
I don't believe we can resist the things which make no sense - I believe.
User avatar
ID jit
Green Thumb
 
Posts: 340
Joined: Nov 1 '16
Location: SE New England: zone twilight or 5b... hard for me to tell some days.
Top

Re: grass in garden

Thu Jul 06, 2017 11:24 am

Yep. Once you "edge" -- cut the sod along the edge of your bed -- make a few cuts going into the bed being careful not to damage roots of veg plants, then it should be fairly simple to pull up the grass from the cut edge. Half-moon shaped step-on sod cutter is a good investment if you have a garden. Once they are too sparse in the bed to lift as sods, then you will have to pull. Sodding is easier when the soil is dryish, pulling weeds up by the roots is easier when the soil is wet.

The sod blocks contain all the good topsoil (and earthworms). I turn them over in the same spot, tucking in all the grass, then cover with paper and mulch. Where you need heavy duty mulching, flattened corrugated boxes are sturdier. I also use pizza boxes with printing side down since I can't put oil stained pizza boxes in the paper recycle.
Learning never ends because we can share what we've learned. And in sharing our collective experiences, we gain deeper understanding of what we learned.
User avatar
applestar
Mod
 
Posts: 27207
Joined: May 1 '08
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M
Top

Re: grass in garden

Fri Jul 07, 2017 6:04 pm

Thanks everyone. It is already looking better. Just need to do edging and newspaper/fabric and grass clippings and I think I would be on a great start as a new gardener.
Attachments
lawn2.jpeg
kommong2
Newly Registered
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Jul 4 '17
Top

Re: grass in garden

Fri Jul 07, 2017 6:41 pm

Now that looks more like a garden patch. Good job. There's hope for you yet!!!! LOL
gumbo2176
Super Green Thumb
 
Posts: 3054
Joined: Jul 19 '10
Location: New Orleans
Top

Re: grass in garden

Fri Jul 07, 2017 11:58 pm

It not only looks healthier, it looks so much neater :wink:
User avatar
KitchenGardener
Senior Member
 
Posts: 278
Joined: Apr 26 '16
Location: Northern California; Hardiness Zone 10a, Climate zone: 17
Top

Re: grass in garden

Sat Jul 08, 2017 12:28 pm

Looks a whole lot more goodlier! Your plants will be a lot happier too.
Soil looks pretty good too.

If you can get some clean wood chips form a tree company or similar, you can top dress the grass clipping over paper/cardboard. Careful with the bagged bark mulch, it is usually loaded up with all kinds of fun stuff.
I don't believe we can resist the things which make no sense - I believe.
User avatar
ID jit
Green Thumb
 
Posts: 340
Joined: Nov 1 '16
Location: SE New England: zone twilight or 5b... hard for me to tell some days.
Top

Please Share. Thank you!

 
 
Top


Post a reply
13 posts • Page 1 of 1

 

 

  •   Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post
  • Kill grass & weeds prior to tilling for vegetable garden?
    in Organic Gardening Forum
    12
    1379
    by tomc View the latest post
  • Getting rid of grass
    in Organic Gardening Forum
    5
    993
    by Asica View the latest post
  • Grass/Weeds
    in Organic Gardening Forum
    6
    827
    by Gardener_Wes View the latest post
  • Carrots or grass?
    in Vegetable Gardening Forum
    3
    391
    by jal_ut View the latest post
  • Grass seeds & mold Attachment(s)
    in Seed Starting
    4
    416
    by imafan26 View the latest post
  • My CoffePot Hydroponic Wheat Grass
    in Vegetable Garden Progress + Photos & Videos
    0
    324
    by metalfish View the latest post
Return to Vegetable Gardening Forum
  • Delete all board cookies • All times are UTC
Privacy Policy | Contact Us
Copyright HelpfulGardener.com 2003-2018 all rights reserved.
All trademarks and copyrights held by respective owners.