Starting a new Garden!

[venymae]

We bought a house this past summer and are prepping a section of our yard to put in a garden. We have lots of runner grass. What is the best way to remove this so we can plant next spring? Could chickens decimate it enough???

 

[Tumbling K]

roundup lots of it.

then a preemergent

then some good compost or build up with rose soil if you can. I'm lucky down here we have places that will sell you this stuff by the cubic yard. I can actually haul 2 yards in the bed of my pickup truck. F20 with a full 8' bed.

only problem with round up this time of year, is if the grass is dormant.

chickens won't get the roots.

I'd seriously consider tilling the area getting a skid steer, and take out the top 6" of dirt. replace with yards of rose soil, and cover with compost, and a big black plastic sheet.

you will have problems with this and any other grass getting in your garden forever, so be prepared.

 

[venymae]

roundup lots of it.

then a preemergent

then some good compost or build up with rose soil if you can. I'm lucky down here we have places that will sell you this stuff by the cubic yard. I can actually haul 2 yards in the bed of my pickup truck. F20 with a full 8' bed.

only problem with round up this time of year, is if the grass is dormant.

chickens won't get the roots.

I'd seriously consider tilling the area getting a skid steer, and take out the top 6" of dirt. replace with yards of rose soil, and cover with compost, and a big black plastic sheet.

you will have problems with this and any other grass getting in your garden forever, so be prepared.

Ah, I should have added this sorry! My son actually has a Glyphosate chemical sensitivity (amoungst others chemical sensitivities) that put him in the hospital a couple years back, so it's all organic for us! We are in the city, and don't have a skid steer, but the local transfer station does sell really nice compost (they use the city clippings/leaves and leftovers from a yogurt factory, it's so rich!) that we can ammend the soil with eventually. Any other ideas for killing the grass? Would heavy mulch work?? We've lasagna gardened before, but always in the community garden where the ground was already prepared with a plow. Thanks!

 

[Percheron chick]

You should do a lasagna garden. Go with a good solid layer of cardboard on the bottom and go for it. You might need to cover the entire area with plastic in the spring for a month if it hasn't composted enough to plant. Letting the chickens have access to the garden in the off season will help speed things up, keep larvae in check and scratch up most tender weeds.

 

[tdepointe]

You should do a lasagna garden. Go with a good solid layer of cardboard on the bottom and go for it. You might need to cover the entire area with plastic in the spring for a month if it hasn't composted enough to plant. Letting the chickens have access to the garden in the off season will help speed things up, keep larvae in check and scratch up most tender weeds.

x2 on this

 

[appps]

what she said

My sister just moved into a new place and did the cardboard quite successfully over buffalo.

 

[venymae]

Awesome! Guess we will have to raid the gas station reycyle bin for those big boxes. Thanks everyone!

 

[lazy gardener]

No Glyphosphate PLEASE! Or other chemicals to kill off that witch grass! IMO, the best way to get rid of it is to work the soil with a good old fashioned garden fork. It will take you a lot of elbow grease. If you use a tiller, which you COULD do, it will break all of those runners up into little pieces and spread them around, with the potential for each of those pieces to form a new plant. By using a fork, you can work them out, and follow each runner as far as possible. You'll still have some renegades, but once a piece of real estate in the garden has been worked, planted, and deeply mulched, any little blades that stick up can be easily removed. One year of diligence should see the problem well on it's way to being controlled.

 

[Weehopper]

For what it's worth. My vet told me Roundup causes cancer in dogs. It is also deadly to bees. I know a lot of people use it, but personally, I'd rather get out there and pull the grass by hand than use Roundup. Seriously though, tilling would be a better way to go. And plant something that won't let the bad stuff grow. Your extension agent may be able to advise you, or a Master Gardner. (Like the garden guys you see on TV or hear on the radio). Oh, and yes, your chickens can take it down to mud pretty quick if it is a fairly small area and you feed them on the ground there.