We've moved into a house with a large garden that hasn't been
maintained for some years. The grass is in poor condition, and full of
weeds and couch grass. Part of our plan is to create some raised beds
and grow vegetables.

The plan is to strip the grass and import some top soil and manure to
build up the beds. Would it be OK to just invert the stripped grass ie
turn it upside down and put it back, and then dump the new topsoil on
top? Would the weeds just grow up through the new soil again, or would
this layer of old grass a few inches below the surface in any way
restrict the future growth of new plants?

Or would it be better just to dispose of the weedy old grass?

Thanks for any advice. Will.

Or would it be better just to dispose of the weedy old grass?

I stripped the old lawn, and built a garden seat out of the sods. Just turn
them upside down and stack them. I made one around the base of a tree -
ensuring there was an air gap between the seat and the tree, then planted
chamomile over the whole lot.

Best,

- h

will wrote:

We've moved into a house with a large garden that hasn't been
maintained for some years. The grass is in poor condition, and full of
weeds and couch grass. Part of our plan is to create some raised beds
and grow vegetables.

The plan is to strip the grass and import some top soil and manure to
build up the beds. Would it be OK to just invert the stripped grass ie
turn it upside down and put it back, and then dump the new topsoil on
top? Would the weeds just grow up through the new soil again, or would
this layer of old grass a few inches below the surface in any way
restrict the future growth of new plants?

Or would it be better just to dispose of the weedy old grass?


We've done a fair bit of turf stripping in our garden (for ponds and
seeding wildflower meadows) and built various clod walls (great for
planting stuff on top that likes it a bit drier as most of our garden is
very soggy in winter at least) and raised beds around the garden with the
turf. If you use the turf to build the beds up you will get grass growing
on the edges, but if you just put a layer or two in the middle of the bed
as you suggest, well surrounded by ordinary soil then it shouldn't be a
problem. The grass rots down quite well (although I would still try and get
the couch grass out first as its virtually indestructable and I can imagine
it coming up through quite a lot of overlying soil). If you have the time,
a fail-safe option is to stack it upside down in a shady place, or covered,
for a year until the grass has rotted down then use it.

Anita

I dug the grass up, shook the dirt out from around the roots as best as I
could and planted the remaining grass in a low spot. One of the hardest
things I've found to get out of my raised beds, is grass. Good luck.
Dwayne


"H" wrote in message
...

Or would it be better just to dispose of the weedy old grass?

I stripped the old lawn, and built a garden seat out of the sods. Just
turn
them upside down and stack them. I made one around the base of a tree -
ensuring there was an air gap between the seat and the tree, then planted
chamomile over the whole lot.

Best,

- h

On 29 Jan 2003 04:58:03 -0800, (will) wrote:

We've moved into a house with a large garden that hasn't been
maintained for some years. The grass is in poor condition, and full of
weeds and couch grass. Part of our plan is to create some raised beds
and grow vegetables.

The plan is to strip the grass and import some top soil and manure to
build up the beds. Would it be OK to just invert the stripped grass ie
turn it upside down and put it back, and then dump the new topsoil on
top? Would the weeds just grow up through the new soil again, or would
this layer of old grass a few inches below the surface in any way
restrict the future growth of new plants?

Or would it be better just to dispose of the weedy old grass?

Thanks for any advice. Will.

If there's Couch grass there you'd be well advised to get rid of as
much of it as possible - even the tiniest fragment of root will spawn
a whole new plant, and it doesn't seem to matter how deep you bury the
stuff.

Problem is, the roots are brittle - and on uncultivated soil they're
damned hard to get out - so to some extent you need to cultivate the
soil to allow yourself to be able to remove the roots whole.
Potatoes don't seem to mind co-existing with Couch grass, and the
heavy cultivation of the soil loosens the roots up a treat.

I'm not sure that simply stripping the turf off and importing a lot of
topsoil will give you the best of raised beds - you really do need to
get down to the subsoil and give it a bit of a jiggle. This will help
with drainage, and in the long term increases the depth of the topsoil
- which is what raised beds are all about.

Almost as much of a problem as Couch grass is the Creeping Buttercup -
again, if you bury these blighters they eventually find their way up
to the top.

I'd be inclined to strip the turf, stash it elsewhere ( preferably
under a mulch ) for a season or so, grub up the subsoil, ( and get any
tap roots out ) work in your organic matter then pop on your imported
topsoil. Next year you'll be able to top the beds up with the heap you
made from the turf.

It's heavy work, but only needs to be done the once - after that it's
all about general weeding and maintenance.

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

"will" wrote in message
om...
build up the beds. Would it be OK to just invert the stripped grass ie
turn it upside down and put it back, and then dump the new topsoil on
top? Would the weeds just grow up through the new soil again, or would

For my borders I had to strip a lot of turf and being lazy I did half of it
and put it upside down on the remaining half. Then I covered with a thickish
layer of old newspapers( 6-8 sheets thick at least ). Then put clean soil on
top.
The paper takes long enough to rot that most of the grass etc. has died
first. To plant in the area, just make small holes through the paper and
plant through.

Martin.

g'day will,

just cover it with newspaper than cover with you new garden medium
cooch is easily gotten rid of this way, too easy no back breaking
digging.

i have pics of how i commonly do my raised beds on my garden page.

have fun

len

snipped
--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://hub.dataline.net.au/~gardnlen/

On 29 Jan 2003 04:58:03 -0800, (will) wrote:

We've moved into a house with a large garden that hasn't been
maintained for some years. The grass is in poor condition, and full of
weeds and couch grass. Part of our plan is to create some raised beds
and grow vegetables.

The plan is to strip the grass and import some top soil and manure to
build up the beds. Would it be OK to just invert the stripped grass ie
turn it upside down and put it back, and then dump the new topsoil on
top? Would the weeds just grow up through the new soil again, or would
this layer of old grass a few inches below the surface in any way
restrict the future growth of new plants?

Or would it be better just to dispose of the weedy old grass?

Thanks for any advice. Will.

Our lawn was mainly couch grass and when I cut some out to make a
border I stacked it in a large pile (about 4ft x 4ft x 4ft) hoping it
would rot down into loam. Unfortunately we ended up with a large pile
of couch grass. The roots go right through the heap and long grass
grows wherever it gets light. We covered it completely with an old
carpet last year and the green grass has disappeared but it's still
full of viable couch grass roots so I can't put it anywhere. I should
get rid of it if I was you.

Joan in Bramhall (Cheshire)

Some very useful advice here, thank you for taking the trouble to
reply. On balance, I think I'll remove the turf and see if it rots
down eventually, killing the couch grass as it does so.

Cheers, Will

On 30 Jan 2003 15:15:22 -0800, (will) wrote:

Some very useful advice here, thank you for taking the trouble to
reply. On balance, I think I'll remove the turf and see if it rots
down eventually, killing the couch grass as it does so.

Cheers, Will
Now get to bed Will, it's late, an you've got all that turf lifting in
the morning! :-}

On Thu, 30 Jan 2003 23:17:48 +0000, Aiden
wrote:

On 30 Jan 2003 15:15:22 -0800, (will) wrote:

Some very useful advice here, thank you for taking the trouble to
reply. On balance, I think I'll remove the turf and see if it rots
down eventually, killing the couch grass as it does so.

Cheers, Will
Now get to bed Will, it's late, an you've got all that turf lifting in
the morning! :-}


Should come up nice and easy - what with all that frost! I recommend a
stainless steel spade!!

Failing that, get that nice Mr.Titchmarsh round to do it ( you may
remember him from such tv series as Ground Force & Gardener's World ).
I hear he's none too busy lately.

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{who is at}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk