Need help getting rid of grass in vegetable garden?

[chickenpal147]

I need help. My freshly tilled and mounded vegetable garden is covered in grass. The last few years I have been battling grass. I’ve tried the vinegar, dawn dish soap and epsom salt solution. Weed paper and newspapers covered in straw. I don’t really want to use herbicides or harsh chemicals as I own chickens, ducks and bees, but if I have to I will.

 

[Alagirl]

nothing like elbow grease.
I had also the marvelous idea to sow wold flowers into the mix, so I can't just hoe the plot either.

You also might want to consider mulching. Preferably not with hay as it generally contains some seeds as well. Covered soil is good soil!

 

[Isadora]

Very, very thick mulching would probably be the easiest. I have grass in my garden, as well. We cut it as short as possible, lay down cardboard or empty feed bags, then lay cut grass or pulled weeds on top.

 

[RubelliteRose]

I wouldn't use herbicides or harsh chemicals in your vegetable garden. Some of them linger in the soil so while you may get rid of the grass, you won't be able to grow vegetables either. Part of the answer depends upon what type of grass you have. If it is a clumping grass, manually pulling and mulching will keep most of it from growing. Do know that straw had LOTS of seeds. I use straw as mulch sometimes, knowing that I will be weeding a lot in the first few weeks.
If you are dealing with bermuda grass, you may want to consider a raised bed. Each time you till bermuda, you break up the rhizomes and create even more plants. It is awful, I am currently digging up a flower bed where I lost the battle

 

[nuthatched]

Start pulling?

 

[Battlepants]

Set your chickens up on that area for a few days or a week or so. They will shred EVERYTHING. Then put down garden cloth, bury with mulch, then punch through the garden cloth to plant the things you actually want.

Low effort + happy chickens = win!

 

[Alagirl]

I wouldn't use herbicides or harsh chemicals in your vegetable garden. Some of them linger in the soil so while you may get rid of the grass, you won't be able to grow vegetables either. Part of the answer depends upon what type of grass you have. If it is a clumping grass, manually pulling and mulching will keep most of it from growing. Do know that straw had LOTS of seeds. I use straw as mulch sometimes, knowing that I will be weeding a lot in the first few weeks.
If you are dealing with bermuda grass, you may want to consider a raised bed. Each time you till bermuda, you break up the rhizomes and create even more plants. It is awful, I am currently digging up a flower bed where I lost the battle

straw should not have any seeds in it.
Ditto on the bermuda, and nutsedge is as bad. I talked with a lady who works at Lowe's, she has several raised beds, and when the grass gets too much she takes them apart (the new stacking concrete blocks with channels for boards) and spreads the soil. A little pricey for me, as I have to buy too much soil still.

 

[chickenpal147]

Unfortunately I can’t put the chickens in the garden as I actively have plants growing in there right now and the grass is all over my entire garden. But I do have the ducks in there as they won’t really bother the plants. But I think what I’m going to do is weed the rows, and leave the grass in the walkway but cover it with all of my Amazon boxes and lay newspapers on every thing and cover with straw. Straw shouldn’t have a ton of seed in it as it is mostly wheat stalks, but hay will as it is mostly grass. The part in the shade is where most of my plants are, the part in the sun is a new part i just added to the garden and is where my vining plants and corn are.

 

[NatJ]

Unfortunately I can’t put the chickens in the garden as I actively have plants growing in there right now and the grass is all over my entire garden.

You could make a moveable pen, to put chickens on part of the garden at a time, to kill the grass there. Move them to different parts, depending on which parts have plants at what time. If the grass comes back, put the chickens back, or leave them in one place for several months. Some kinds of grass have really deep roots, but chickens can even kill that by eating every new sprout until the roots run out of energy.

If there is any time when the whole garden is empty of plants, you could put chickens in the whole garden then.

I think what I’m going to do is weed the rows, and leave the grass in the walkway but cover it with all of my Amazon boxes and lay newspapers on every thing and cover with straw. Straw shouldn’t have a ton of seed in it as it is mostly wheat stalks

That sounds like a good idea to me. A thick enough mulch of paper or cardboard, for a long enough time, will kill just about any plant by depriving it of light.

 

[Percheron chick]

Cardboard between the rows then cover with wood chips or the boxes get slick when wet. The cardboard will basically melt into the dirt by the end of the season. Mulch heavily around the plants. It will suppress weeds and provide nutrients to the soil as it decomposes over the summer. When you put the garden to bed in the fall, let the chickens have a crack at it to clean it up and eat any seeds and larvae to help get in front of it for next year. Hand pull when you have to. It's a neverending process.