Download: How To Make A Garden Bed Over Grass
Just like most activities, there is more than one way to do this. The ever growing, green and largely grass clothed soil can seem to put you off at your first consideration of converting your lawn into a garden.
The grass does not have to go totally, it could help complement your new plants with luscious green vibe.
This is just an alternative to clearing out your whole lawn either in the easiest way or most stressful way ever.
How to make a garden bed over grass
This article will be providing you some ways to have your garden bed over lawn:
Covering the grass
Placing coverings (hard papers or plastic tarps) on the grass in the section you want to have your garden stops air from circulating the plants which is a form of smothering.
Overtime for as long as six months, the grass decays and automatically adds nutrient into the soil in preparation for your next gardening.
Somewhat similar to the smothering method is the lasagna method which is mostly done during the fall.
The soil is covered with hard papers of newspapers and filled with organic materials or compost which will eventually decay before it becomes spring.
In short, it is layering the soil with composting materials as a form of sheet composting to create a fluffy nutrient rich soil.
Following the rule of composting, you should try to keep the materials wet but not soggy so that the matter can cook and decay.
Raised garden bed
Making this over a grass without digging or applying chemical is better done by arranging hard materials on the grass as a first layer in such a way that the grass under becomes smothered as time goes by.
Not only is this a wonderful alternative for low quality soil, protecting the plants from pests and insects in an expensive but productive way.
All it requires is drawing out the area where your raised garden bed would be located. Make a border and wood arranged to the height of the bed as you so desire.
Add a lot of compost material, soil or good garden soil in not less than 8 inches into the secluded area.
Then plant or transplant your flowers or veggies to be planted in the well prepared garden bed.
Do I need to mulch in my raised garden?
Mulching is mostly used for preventing eroding of soils and also as a protective solution for seeds and tender plants.
However, you can mulch a raised bed with organic materials. It will help protect the plants from harsh weather conditions and also become a source of nutrient to the soil, help to retain the soil moisture, temperature and also keeps the weeds out.
What can I use for my lasagna gardening?
Cardboards, newspapers, grass clippings, leaves, plastic tarps, as all these will have to be left for up to 9-12 months best advised to start in fall and left to breakdown through the winter until spring or summer. These can be done in about four or five layers.
Can I lay soil on top of grass?
You totally can. The grass can be stubborn and eventually resurface. To avoid that, you need a thick layer of soil placed over the grass to stop its thriving in any way possible.
This can be improvised by cutting the grass to a low level and then covering it up to avoid sunlight penetrating into the soil.
After some time, add a layer of soil on the dead grass to start a new lawn or gardening activity.
What do I do with dead grass in my garden bed?
If you do find dead grass in your raised garden bed or ground garden bed, turn it over with the soil or dig it over with new soil added.
Gardening over grass can seem very tricky but it is a very easy way to control and prepare your soil for gardening.
Getting rid of grass can be a very tedious activity and so using lawns for gardening may not be the very first option.
Following any of these methods, you can operate your garden with easy mobility and accessibility.
