How do I clear a grassy area for a garden?

We just bought a place in the country, but it doesn't look like there has been a garden here in recent years. I don't know how to create a nice, clean area for a garden. I would appreciate any suggestions.

How do I clear a grassy area for a garden?
OHH I am so glad you asked! A product called "Preen"


here's a link for the different types they offer.


http://www.preen.com/newpreen/index.jsp





You can get it from most big garden places, I got mine from Home Depot.


I had flowers and was worried about killing them, rock area that was being taken over by some really nasty weeds and grass with big root areas and I was just dog tired of backing my back, I didn't believe that something so great could be so simple ...oohhh and I have pets and that was my biggest worry ...and yes I did try the organic way ...spraying the weeds and grass with vinegar and let the sun get it, it does work but I just had too many poppin' up every other day and some older well established weeds and grass. Sorry but I just can't say enough about this product!!





Good Luck !
Reply:rip the grass out buy soil and plant plants
Reply:NO DIGGING REQUIRED:





Poison the grassed area or use boiled water to scorch the perimeter of the bed and lay black plastic for a week on the grass.


Then build raised beds, starting with wet newspaper, then manure, compost, straw, soil, newspaper, manure, compost, straw, soil, etc. and wet it.


Then, your plants will be VERY happy and you will be able to mow up to the bed and not worry about the grass migrating into the garden! Place edging plants to retain the soil. Use groundcover plants to keep the weeds out. Grow plants and trees that you will enjoy and use, eg. lemon trees, flowering shrubs. Fertilise with chook poo every few months. Use a drip irrigation system, or simply water just the base of the plants. That way you're not helping the weeds and you'll never have to buy poisons.
Reply:get a roto tiller and till the land you intend on gardening. Add some enrichments to the soil and plant away!
Reply:get a rota tiller and go over the area that you want to plant the garden in several times. Then go through and get as much as the grass and rocks out as you can with a rake. Next use the tiller and mix some fertilizer in with the dirt. Then plant your seeds in rows and water until you have what you want.





Good Luck!!!!
Reply:If you are not able to remove the grass by hand I can understand because it's very hard physical work. If you're not in a huge hurry you could use a defoliant and wait for the grass to die or you can cover the area with weed cloth weighed down with stones or bricks. Since the cloth will block all the light the grass will eventually die. This last idea is probably the least toxic and easiest way to clear an area.


.
Reply:Gasoline! If your from England you would call it Petro.
Reply:Buy sprays ti kill weed'
Reply:dig up the grass and then use a rototiller (rent one if you have to, it's way faster and easier than hoeing) on the remaining soil...then plant away!
Reply:Once you have killed, removed or smothered the existing vegetation (see Clearing A Flower Bed), you can begin to work the soil or loosen the soil and prepare the flower bed area for planting flowers. This can be done with a tiller or by hand using a spade and garden fork. If the soil is very compacted or has never been worked, you may want to rent a large, powerful tiller to do the initial passes. Thereafter, a lightweight tiller or a spade should be sufficient. After the first year, you should not need to till the soil again.
Reply:a llalalalalalandsckaper
Reply:Lasagna Gardening-No Tilling





From gardener Arden:





Create a new gardening bed without tilling or pulling up grass and weeds:





Once you have a well defined garden bed, no need to clear it of grass or weeds, just layer about 6 or 8 newspaper sheets or cardboard over the bed area, water the paper or cardboard to the soaking point (this method will eventually smother whatever is growing there).





Over this paper or cardboard, you can build up layers of organic materials by using already made compost from your own pile or bought in bags from a nursery, chopped up leaves, grass clippings, chipped up prunings, produce trimmings, aged manure (not dog or cat), whatever you can gather that will rot. Pile it on as thick as you can and be sure it is kept well moistened as if you are watering a garden each week. This is known as lasagna gardening.


Or you can mix everything together and then pile it on top of the paper or cardboard if you prefer.





If you would like to have a top layer, wood chips can often be found at your city's Parks %26amp; Recreation Dept., or you can check with your local nurseries. This will make a good top dressing to keep moisture in and to keep wind from blowing away your lasagna.





This material will break down and become a rich, loose loam. Keep adding to this each year and you will have a very nice gardening bed.





******************************





And here is another way from gardener Merrybelle:





Lasagna gardening:





Lasagna gardening is simply a short cut to digging and tilling up an area for new beds. I live on a hillside and part of our now yard used to be pasture land , so not only is the land compacted, it's also clay based with wild Bermuda in a goodly portion of it.





To lasagna, you normally spray the grass with a grass/weed killer (I'll get creamed by the environmentalists on this one).





Then you lay down your cardboard/newspapers.





On top of this you put compost, top soil, potting soil, shredded leaves, etc.





You are now ready to plant your beds.





When using newspapers, they need to be thick, that's why I prefer cardboard. It suppresses the greenery underneath while decomposing, thereby enriching the soil. For some reason, the papers/cardboard draw earthworms like crazy, which is also good for aeration of the soil.





You obviously cannot till in your dirt mixture immediately, that's why most people let the topsoil/compost/potting soil/shredded leaves sit for awhile on top of the cardboard/newspaper layers, to give them time to decompose. This is esp. true if you are going to be digging holes for shrubs, roses, anything that required more than a minimum of root cover.





Being the impatient person that I am, I normally plant immediately on top, but then, I'm planting shallow rooted things like lilies, etc.





All of my beds are lasagna'd - ie, layered.





So in a nutshell, lasagna gardening is layer gardening, a quicker way to create new beds, esp. for us older folks who can't double dig, or who have very poor soil.
Reply:pee on the spot u want gone...
Reply:Mark out an area that you want having more than 6 hours of full sun light. Mark out an area that you feel that you can manage. May I suggest an area of about 12 feet by 24 feet for starters.


Buy a gallon of "Round Up" weed and grass killer. Spray down the area that is going to be your garden. This area will not be ready for planting for some 3 to 4 weeks after spraying. In that 3 to 4 weeks span, you are going to go on the internet and do a lot of research on how to condition and prepare your garden soil for growing your veggies.


Come back and ask questions. We'll be glad to help.
Reply:well i'd just rototill the whole damn thing, rake the **** out, and then get some topsoil to go over top of it.


Of course, when your topsoil is new and rich, the vegetables you grow will grow to fantastic perportions, but the vegetables themselves, especially the undergrownd ones won't grow very big at all. When I got some new topsoil, I planted all potatoes, and the plants were ******* HUGE, but the potatoes themselves were no bigger than grapes.

Climbing Shoes