I am turning some of m,y lawn into garden areas for shrubs and bushes etc.

Cut the turf out today using a turf cutter as it was going into someone
else's yard.

What should I now be doing to prepare the area? I was going to rotary hoe
it and combine it with some mushroom compost but I am concerned about the
existing couch roots that remain and I fear that they will grow back in
amongst the new plants.

I plan to put down weed mat but I know that it is 100% fail safe with weeds
so I guess couch will be able to grow back through this stuff.

What should I do? Put down plastic instead of or with the weed mat?
Something else altogether?

Thanks,

Craig

You could try sifting the soil and removing the roots as you go along.

Tis hard work but will get better results.

Richard



"Gurrie" wrote in message
...
I am turning some of m,y lawn into garden areas for shrubs and bushes etc.

Cut the turf out today using a turf cutter as it was going into someone
else's yard.

What should I now be doing to prepare the area? I was going to rotary hoe
it and combine it with some mushroom compost but I am concerned about the
existing couch roots that remain and I fear that they will grow back in
amongst the new plants.

I plan to put down weed mat but I know that it is 100% fail safe with
weeds
so I guess couch will be able to grow back through this stuff.

What should I do? Put down plastic instead of or with the weed mat?
Something else altogether?

Thanks,

Craig

"Gurrie" wrote in message ...
I am turning some of m,y lawn into garden areas for shrubs and bushes etc.

Cut the turf out today using a turf cutter as it was going into someone
else's yard.

What should I now be doing to prepare the area? I was going to rotary hoe
it and combine it with some mushroom compost but I am concerned about the
existing couch roots that remain and I fear that they will grow back in
amongst the new plants.

I plan to put down weed mat but I know that it is 100% fail safe with weeds
so I guess couch will be able to grow back through this stuff.

What should I do? Put down plastic instead of or with the weed mat?
Something else altogether?

Thanks,

Craig


You could always give it a good water to encourage the couch to grow,
and then give it a quick spray with herbicide. It may mean you won't
be able to have your garden bed up and going straight away, but you
will have less grass amongst the plants without having to search
through for all those roots.

Ben

http://www.directedfocus.com.au/gardening

In article , Gurrie
wrote:

I am turning some of m,y lawn into garden areas for shrubs and bushes etc.

Cut the turf out today using a turf cutter as it was going into someone
else's yard.

What should I now be doing to prepare the area? I was going to rotary hoe
it and combine it with some mushroom compost but I am concerned about the
existing couch roots that remain and I fear that they will grow back in
amongst the new plants.

I plan to put down weed mat but I know that it is 100% fail safe with weeds
so I guess couch will be able to grow back through this stuff.

What should I do? Put down plastic instead of or with the weed mat?
Something else altogether?

I really hate to admit this, but the only thing I have found that deals
with cooch is Glyphosate (Roundup/Zero). All other weeds I pull by
hand, but no matter how far down I go to get rid of cooch, if there is
part of a root left, or if it is growing anywhere nearby, it will
reappear again and again. If you have a cooch lawn nearby, you will
find it popping up in your garden beds from time to time, regardless of
what you do.

But, if you are prepared to use the herbicide, it works well. It is
supposed to be non residual - once it hits the soil it should break
down and not poison anything else. You just have to be certain not to
get it on anything else. A neat trick I saw to help with this, is to
wear an absorbent cotton glove *over a non porous rubber glove*. You
can then dip your fingers in the Zero, and wipe them specifically on
the leaves of the weeds you want to target.

Take Care, and Good Luck

....

Yeah. I was thinking of something similar. Water restrictions are a bit of
an issue though.



"Dover3211" wrote in message
om...
"Gurrie" wrote in message
...
I am turning some of m,y lawn into garden areas for shrubs and bushes
etc.

Cut the turf out today using a turf cutter as it was going into someone
else's yard.

What should I now be doing to prepare the area? I was going to rotary
hoe
it and combine it with some mushroom compost but I am concerned about
the
existing couch roots that remain and I fear that they will grow back in
amongst the new plants.

I plan to put down weed mat but I know that it is 100% fail safe with
weeds
so I guess couch will be able to grow back through this stuff.

What should I do? Put down plastic instead of or with the weed mat?
Something else altogether?

Thanks,

Craig


You could always give it a good water to encourage the couch to grow,
and then give it a quick spray with herbicide. It may mean you won't
be able to have your garden bed up and going straight away, but you
will have less grass amongst the plants without having to search
through for all those roots.

Ben

http://www.directedfocus.com.au/gardening

"Dover3211" wrote in message


You could always give it a good water to encourage the couch to grow,
and then give it a quick spray with herbicide. It may mean you won't
be able to have your garden bed up and going straight away, but you
will have less grass amongst the plants without having to search
through for all those roots.

Ben

http://www.directedfocus.com.au/gardening

I'd definitely go for this idea, even though in a reply the OP mentioned
water restrictions.
It's the only surefire way to get rid of it, and spray it with roundup
(glyphosphate) mixed at a rate of 100ml, or even 150ml to 10litres of water
and spray EVERY single part of the grass.
The roots and that you mention you left will definitely grow, and once you
get the plants in it will be near impossible to get out, unless you use a
selective herbicide to kill it. One of them is Fusilade, but is very
expensive.
Good luck
Oh, and the weed mat may help with other weeds, but won't work as well on
the couch.

"Dover3211" wrote in message


You could always give it a good water to encourage the couch to grow,
and then give it a quick spray with herbicide. It may mean you won't
be able to have your garden bed up and going straight away, but you
will have less grass amongst the plants without having to search
through for all those roots.

Ben

http://www.directedfocus.com.au/gardening

I'd definitely go for this idea, even though in a reply the OP mentioned
water restrictions.
It's the only surefire way to get rid of it, and spray it with roundup
(glyphosphate) mixed at a rate of 100ml, or even 150ml to 10litres of water
and spray EVERY single part of the grass.
The roots and that you mention you left will definitely grow, and once you
get the plants in it will be near impossible to get out, unless you use a
selective herbicide to kill it. One of them is Fusilade, but is very
expensive.
Good luck
Oh, and the weed mat may help with other weeds, but won't work as well on
the couch.

Thanks for the advice all.

I have decided to defer the planting of the garden beds and will leave the
area for the couch to grow and then give it a hit of round-up or zero etc in
a month or so.

I have weed mat down on the area at the minute but that was just because I
wanted it in place when I did the new lawn edging in bricks. Now that it
has been done, I plan to fold back the weed mat to expose the area where the
turf was cut from to let it grow before I go nuts with the weed killer.

Thaks for the note on the selective herbicide - at least I know that there
is a solution if I still manage to have some couch issues once the garden
beds are all done.

Again, thankyou all.

Craig

"Andrew G" wrote in message
...

"Dover3211" wrote in message


You could always give it a good water to encourage the couch to grow,
and then give it a quick spray with herbicide. It may mean you won't
be able to have your garden bed up and going straight away, but you
will have less grass amongst the plants without having to search
through for all those roots.

Ben

http://www.directedfocus.com.au/gardening

I'd definitely go for this idea, even though in a reply the OP mentioned
water restrictions.
It's the only surefire way to get rid of it, and spray it with roundup
(glyphosphate) mixed at a rate of 100ml, or even 150ml to 10litres of
water
and spray EVERY single part of the grass.
The roots and that you mention you left will definitely grow, and once you
get the plants in it will be near impossible to get out, unless you use a
selective herbicide to kill it. One of them is Fusilade, but is very
expensive.
Good luck
Oh, and the weed mat may help with other weeds, but won't work as well on
the couch.

"Gurrie" writes:

Thanks for the advice all.

I have decided to defer the planting of the garden beds and will leave the
area for the couch to grow and then give it a hit of round-up or zero etc in
a month or so.

I have weed mat down on the area at the minute but that was just because I
wanted it in place when I did the new lawn edging in bricks. Now that it
has been done, I plan to fold back the weed mat to expose the area where the
turf was cut from to let it grow before I go nuts with the weed killer.

Thaks for the note on the selective herbicide - at least I know that there
is a solution if I still manage to have some couch issues once the garden
beds are all done.



Also remember, couch is much less of a problem if you don't mow it,
and it has to compete with broad leaved plants. I only still have
problems with it in my garden (really a native plant regeneration
area) where we don't have trees or native ground covers growing yet.