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New hobbyist here. I'm planing a raised garden bed (about 4' by 6' or 8') and I want to clear the area. My thoughts were to make a bed that would be a 12" high hollow frame, that I would "sink" about 3" in the current soil, so only 9" would show. I want to install that on an area that currently has grass (well, snow at the moment, but underneath is grass.)

My plan was:

  • Remove the grass (Question to come)
  • Dig the trenches about 3" where the frame would rest.
  • Fill the inside of the frame with soil (mixture like suggested here)
  • But a wooden grid on top just for a frame of reference even though I'm not doing 100% Square Foot Gardening.

My question: What's the best way to remove the grass. I'll be using a shovel and a mattock, but I've read that I should lay a tarp or something to kill the grass to make it easier to remove, but is that relevant since it has been covered by snow all winter? If possible I'd like to "shake the removed grass" to keep some of the soil, and then compost the grass/roots, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea or not because I don't want to end up with a 2nd lawn inside the raised bed...

Regards

Tipx
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2 Answers2

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A turfing iron is the best, though it means cutting into sections anyway, but failing that, if you have a lawn edger (also known as a half moon edger because of the shape of the blade), cut the turf into manageable sections, penetrating about 2 inches down, then lever up the sections with a spade (rather than a shovel - I think in the States, shovel and spade mean the same thing, but they don't in the UK. A shovel is curved, broader than a garden spade and is really useful for shovelling stuff like gravel, sand or wet concrete, but useless for digging the ground; a garden spade usually has either a straight edge at the bottom, or sometimes a pointed, curved one). You can shake some of the soil off if you like, but otherwise, just stack it somewhere with the grass side face down - in 18 months to 2 years it will have turned into useable compost. Removing the turf in this way means it's much less likely you will miss any sections of grass and roots which may regrow later on.

The tarpaulin idea you heard about is if you're going to leave the area unattended for a significant period, then the tarpaulin, being in place for a year or more, will have (in theory) killed the grass.

After removing the turf, dig over the soil that was beneath to break it up before filling the raised area with new topsoil.

Bamboo
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My husband just dug out out bed ,he blocked the grass in section and then removed it ,we had some low spots in the yard and he scheme the top of the low area and put them there & where the rain made a trench from the shed it work prefect

Annette
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