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Naturally killing grass for flowerbed

  • 07-07-2020 10:25am
    #1
    fret_wimp2
    Registered Users Posts: 1,905 ✭✭✭


    I need to kill off a bit of lawn for a flowerbed.
    I dont have a big sheet/tarpaulin to cover it for an extended period.
    I dont want to use roundup or other standard poisons.
    I need the soil to be able to hold plants of my choosing afterwards.

    I realize thats a lot of requirements for a bit of grass, but what are my options?


Comments

  • #2
    Supercell
    Registered Users Posts: 15,322 ✭✭✭✭Supercell


    Pour lots of boiling hot water over it.
    Or Burn it.
    Or Lift the sod on top, dig a bit down , bury the sod at the bottom. Its not indestructable, personally i just usually dig down leave the grass sods at the bottom facing down and cover. Digging the soil prepares it nicely for the new plants too.
    https://www.loughlinstown.ie

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  • #3
    GreeBo
    Registered Users Posts: 27,031 ✭✭✭✭GreeBo


    What area are you talking about?
    Covering with layers of wet newspaper/cardboard is an eco friendly way of doing it without much work on your side.


  • #4
    fret_wimp2
    Registered Users Posts: 1,905 ✭✭✭fret_wimp2


    Its about 30 meters square, not super large.
    I am putting down that plastic weed prevention fabric and covering with pebbles.
    Would turning the sods, then covering with weed fabric and pebbles be enough?


  • #5
    phormium
    Registered Users Posts: 3,293 ✭✭✭phormium


    Get old carpet, far better than any weed fabric if you're going covering with stones anyway.


  • #6
    fiacha
    Registered Users Posts: 779 ✭✭✭fiacha


    Turning the sod will be fine. You will need to dig it anyway to prep the ground for planting.
    Give the area a good low cutting before hand and maybe wait until you've had a few dry days. Wet sod is heavy !

    Another option is to hire a heavy duty rotavator. You may end up having to rake out some of the sod afterwards, but it will do a great job of breaking everything up.


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  • #7
    Shaunoc
    Registered Users Posts: 521 ✭✭✭Shaunoc


    Couple layers of brown cardboard.... Watch some Charles Dowding YouTube clips to inspire.
    I've started similar ish now, cardboard, chicken poo, layer of cow dung straw mix, decent layer of topsoil, topped with couple inches of leaf mulch. Using what I have in as best DIY amateurish gardening as possible. I have 5 feet wide bed by 5 metres done. Another 50 to go!


  • #8
    GreeBo
    Registered Users Posts: 27,031 ✭✭✭✭GreeBo


    GreeBo wrote: »
    What area are you talking about?
    Covering with layers of wet newspaper/cardboard is an eco friendly way of doing it without much work on your side.

    For clarity, you can start planting immediately with this method, you don't need to wait for the grass to die. just pop some mulch on top of the cardboard/paper and away you go.


  • #9
    Tree
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 4,678 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tree


    We did this recently for 8x1.5m area of lawn. Used a lawn edger to slice it all up. Had to wait for a fair bit of rain to soften up the soil first. Ended up pulling up lumps of sod that were 6-10inches deep, turned the whole area, flipped the sod back upside down and packed it all in neatly, then weedmembrane (awful job) and rocks and raised beds then went the ground was ready. 500kg of pebbles for the area with two 1.5x0.8m beds uncovered

    The whole job took two of us two days and put something of a strain on things for a bit... buy plenty of thanks for helping beer and wine...


  • #10
    looksee
    Registered Users Posts: 28,044 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    Just saying - if you are going looking for quantities of anything - that 30 square metres and 30 metres square are not the same thing. 30 metres square would be a pretty big flowerbed!


  • #11
    GreeBo
    Registered Users Posts: 27,031 ✭✭✭✭GreeBo


    looksee wrote: »
    Just saying - if you are going looking for quantities of anything - that 30 square metres and 30 metres square are not the same thing. 30 metres square would be a pretty big flowerbed!

    Thats actually not true...
    20 metres square = 20 square meters = 20 metres squared = 20m2

    They are all measurements of area.

    What is different is if someone is talking about "a 20 metre square". This is a measurement of length and describes a square where each side is 20m, or 400m2 in area.


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  • #12
    looksee
    Registered Users Posts: 28,044 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    Thirty metres square is a square shape that is 30 metres on each side.

    Thirty square metres is 30 x 1 square meter which could be any shape that adds up to 30, 5m x 6m for example.


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