lawn into veg plot

I've got a lawn that I want to convert into a flower and veg plot. I'm not sure how to go about it tho.

Do I just turn over the lawn or do I have to bump off the grass with a weedkiller first?

I don't want to have lots of grass resurfacing from the depths, wreaking terrible vengeance upon my poor wee lettuces.

 

I'm sure there's a proper way, involving removing the turf, setting up barriers to prevent the surrounding grass from invading, digging, raking, forking etc.

Or you could just dig it over, grass and all, and grow spuds in it for the first year. Spuds aren't too fussy about their soil as long as it is well fed and retains moisture (without being wet), so they don't care if they are sharing the soil with freshly dug in grass. Then the dense canopies and the 'earthing up' process ensure that nothing else has much chance to grow, so that the by the time the spuds come out, the ground is pretty much clear.

 

Thanks clueless. I've found another thread on the forum too.
http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/getting-rid-of-a-lawn.40718/#post-514881

Looks like much digging in the near future - oooh me arthritis...

 

Worth digging it (preferably "double digging") the first time. Bury the turf at the bottom of the trench as you dig, as it rots it will provide good water retaining humus for the roots of your veg.

I use raised beds (don't have to have fancy wooden edges if you don't want to / can't afford to - so called "lazy raised beds"), just NEVER walk on them. Make them 4' wide (max "reaching" distance from either side) with an 18" path between. Dig the soil out of the "paths" and heap onto the "beds". Add manure / compost whenever you have enough, but no need to "raise" them more than that [unless you want to]

 

I turfed mine - then double dug adding manure. all the turf I removed I covered in black poly and put into a corner of my garden to compost. I hope to use that soil maybe next year to top up flower beds etc. It was not really that hard to remove . I turfed an area 15' x 15' in about 3hrs

 

Xoot, Islayhawk, means they removed the top grass two inches as "TURF" then piled it up somewhere out of the road, grass to grass soil to soil, and covered it, this in a year this will be excellent loam to put back in the garden

Then you dig it over, so there is no longer any grass to grow up amongst your veg

Jack McH

 

When I double dig I don't mix the 1st and 2nd spits. My understanding is:

Dig a trench one spit (spade's depth) deep. Barrow that "top soil" to the end of the "plot".

My heavy clay starts a bit less than one spit deep so I only dig to the clay, no deeper, so the clay doesn't get mixed in.

Now you have a trench. Dig over the bottom of the trench (the second "spit"). This opens it up, improves drainage, and gets some organic matter into the second spit - I mix in manure at this time. Its hard work on my clay!

Then dig the top spit from the second row and chuck it into the trench - so the trench has now "moved" to row 2, but the soil is Spit-1 and Spit2 has not been mixed. Dig over the second spit in row 2, and repeat.

When you get to the end the trench is in the last row, put the topsoil back that you barrowed round at the beginning.

I then never walk on the beds (I used raised beds for veg, for flower beds I put a plank down to spread the weight if I have to work on the bed) so the soil doesn't get compacted again, so I don't need to double dig again! Adding a mulch to flower beds helps, the worms keep the soil fairly open.

 

I agree. Haven't dug my veg patch since the very first time - although it does get "dug" when I harvest Spuds, Leeks, Parsnips ... but that's once every few years, the beds growing Onions / Brassicas / Beans don't get much tilling at all - pull the plants up, shake off whatever earth has come away with the roots, add a thick mulch in the Autumn, and give the worms my team-building speech