Once you have all the planning complete, it is time to get your (aka your children’s) hands dirty. There are four major ways to get rid of the existing turf. Let’s start with the most labor intensive and the one that will occupy your children the longest (beware, the amount of work involved initially may be inversely proportional to the amount of work they want to spend on your (aka their) new hobby in the future…so pick your battles).
- Digging. Depending on the size of the garden, this will either be with a shovel (LOTS of work but cheapest), Manual sod cutter (little less work and not too expensive), powered sod cutter (least work, most expensive to rent and there is a little bit of a learning curve). If the garden isn’t too big, the manual sod cutter could be a good option. It doesn’t cost too much to rent, is easy to learn to use, and doesn’t require a trailer to get home. Also, you want your kids to suffer (aka work hard) but you don’t want to alienate them with back-breaking work up front. The benefit of digging is that you get a blank slate for planting right away. the cons are that it exposes the bare soil and any weed seeds present or that blow in will have a place to germinate. This can be minimized by covering bare areas with newspapers, grass clippings that have not gone to seed, or landscape fabric.
- Tilling. I have never tried this method but my inkling is that it would probably be difficult in areas with well-established turf and compacted soils. If, however your grass is patchy, it may work well. The advantage of this method is that it is easier than digging and you keep some of the organic matter, however, it will bring up weed seeds to the surface.
- Smothering (not the type that your mother does). This is simply laying something over the grass to kill it. If installing raised beds, this is a good option in that you can simply put down landscape fabric, build your beds and put soil over the top. If installing a traditional garden, you can use anything, landscape fabric w pins, newspaper covered with grass clippings to hold them down, etc. It can take a while to kill the grass this way, but you can also cut holes in the fabric or newspaper, dig up a little turf and put veggies in right away. This is by far the least labor intensive which will only teach your kids to take short cuts…but could keep them on board for helping out in the future rather than hiding under the stairs when you come home to in the summer and they know its weeding time.
- Pesticide. This is by far the easiest initially, but keep in mind, you still have to till it once the grass dies off. If you use this method be sure to read the labels carefully so you know how long to wait to plant after the last application and be very careful not to get it on plants you want to keep. Not one for having the kiddos help out on…if there is one thing I learned as a parent: kids and chemicals don’t mix.
The next steps would be actually amending your soil with compost, composted manure, peat moss or other additives to improved fertility in the soil. Sand can also be added if the soil contains a lot of clay and doesn’t drain well. There are lots of good info on the web about what to add for different soil types and it really is a case by case basis depending on what type you have.
You are now on your way to getting you and your family back in touch with your farming roots…whether your kids like it or not. Remember to reward your kids if they do a good job. A trip to the soda fountain for Jimmy or a new hula hoop for Jane will show you how much you value their help. If they complain and moan about it…well, another afternoon in the family dirt patch will change that tone. Happy Farming!
