I have a large veggie garden 50' x 25' in the Fraser Canyon. Hot summers cold winters. It is over grown with grass and before I roto till it I would like to kill the grass without using chemicals. Someone said I should cover it for a season with carpet or tarp? Any ideas? Thanks for your input Barb S
Covering it would work, but you will be able to use it this year if use a rake, a shovel and some elbow grease. M.
It has 4 years of over gown grass..... elbow grease would take a whole season or more, on a garden this size. We tried roto tilling and that was tough enough.
If it is not too rocky and can mow down to your lowest setting, then rototilling it shouldn't be too hard.
Thanks jimweed, Looks like thats the best way. I'll have to weed wack the tall grass first, then rototill. No rocks.... great dirt under. Can I till in the cut grass ?
Repeated tilling turns the soil to flour, does not eliminate perennial grasses with creeping rootstocks.
Yes I would rototill all the grass right up with it, save yourself the work of raking it all off. It should all break up fine once you get your tiller to dig in. Like Ron says you will have your fair share of weeding for a while. Atleast it will be easier to weed small shoots then 2 foot high grasses. Jim.
I successfully kill grass (sod) by putting it through a shredder/mulcher. First I remove the sod and tear it by hand into small pieces and put it through the yard machine. The ground material is put right back onto the bed, and not one single blade of grass comes up. Never have I killed grass by rototilling alone. Rototilling does not kill the roots and one has misery for several years. These yard machines can be rented, and it only takes a few hours to put an area of say 200 square feet through the process. If you have already rotilled the plot then the pieces will have to be raked and put through the mulcher. This is more work, but the results will be worth the effort if you really want the bed this year. Have a look at the effort I did last year. It is under "Making a New Vegetable Garden Area". This procedure is not empty rhetoric, but practical experience. http://www.durgan.org/Blog/Durgan.html
