Help! New to gardening, and want to grow vegetables where I have grass now

[Daniel Peikes]

OK I bought a house over the winter. I was previously in a 5th floor apartment and tried to plant in containers with limited success.

I want to plant vegetables in my yard but I need some recommendations on the basics. Any recommend planting primers?

First question is, I currently have grass where I would like plant. Any recommendations on an easy way to remove the grass and prepare the soil for planting? I do not want to do raised beds.

Attached is rough sketch of what I might like to grow. Any constructive criticism is appreciated
TIA,
Daniel

 

[roadrunner]

First thing is to ascertain if there are any cables/piping that go thru/under the area you want to garden. Also it would be nice to know of the approximate area you plan on tilling.

It's also a little tough to say, since we don't know your location/type of soil. However, I did the same thing down here in Florida with very sandy soil. I dug up all the grass (tilled it into the soil) and then heavily mulched the area with bags of leaves I collected in my neighborhood. Around here, people put out bags of yard waste (in addition to normal garbage and recyclables). I never put out yard waste, I mulch it into my garden and I also collect other people's yard waste. I now have very fertile soil...I never buy soil amendments.

 

[Daniel Peikes]

I live in Chicago on standard city lot. I am not exactly sure how much space but I am figuring about 10x10 area for planting.

 

[Blair H]

I would use a hand tiller to get the grass up.

I am not sure about the weather in Chicago, but you have some warm and some cool weather plants on your sketch. Broccoli and Cauliflower are definitely cool weather plants while the peppers and cucumbers are warm/hot weather plants.

 

[Beth_B]

Hi! You have some time before planting. (Mid or late May in your area?) Cover the area with cardboard, black plastic or anything that will stifle growth now. Then rototill or dig the soil, removing clumps of grass. After planting the veggies, mulch heavily with straw or untreated wood chips. You'll still have some weeding to do through the season but the mulch will improve the soil over time, and if you stay on top of things, the weedy grasses will start dying back.

 

[headfullofbees]

Dig out turf, about a spade's depth, twelve inches wide, the length of your veg garden and put to one side. Dig out soil underneath, what was turf, again to a spade's depth and also put to one side.
Repeat this next to the first trench, but lay the turf layer upside down at the bottom of the first, and put the soil from the second on top.
Repeat this process until you have completed the width of your garden, putting the turf and soil from the first trench, into the last trench.
This will not only deal with the turf, which should now, as it breaks down, become a source of nitrogen, although a poor one, but should also deal with soil compaction issues.