Killing grass on purpose

[jmb0324]

Has anyone purposely killed their lawn either for a garden, or for an alternative to grass? I've debated doing this for quite a while as my lawn is patchy and, well, I hate mowing anyway. I've found tons of sites with different ideas, all of which are going to make my yard ugly for quite a while.

I'd also prefer something dog-friendly. I can't tarp the whole lawn or they'll have nowhere to go!
Most grass killer I've found doesn't seem too pet-friendly to me. Should I just use black trash bags and kill it in sections (which will take forever?) Or is there a 'quick and easy' route?

 

[Chuck]

Has anyone purposely killed their lawn either for a garden, or for an alternative to grass? I've debated doing this for quite a while as my lawn is patchy and, well, I hate mowing anyway. I've found tons of sites with different ideas, all of which are going to make my yard ugly for quite a while.

I'd also prefer something dog-friendly. I can't tarp the whole lawn or they'll have nowhere to go!
Most grass killer I've found doesn't seem too pet-friendly to me. Should I just use black trash bags and kill it in sections (which will take forever?) Or is there a 'quick and easy' route?

You could make your lawn a raised bed garden a little bit at a time by using weed fabric and mulch

 

[jmb0324]

That's a possibility, but I didn't really want to go the mulch route, I want to be able to walk on it barefoot. I was thinking of getting ground cover like some sort of moss or sedum maybe.

 

[Rosyrain]

I would just cover it with something in the shape that you want the garden. That way it dies naturally and you have a template to go off of when digging out your garden.

 

[iLoveTheLawn]

The only time I opt for a change is when I decided to have carpet grass instead..Its softer under my feet..Anyway, I bought them in patches, and just lay them on the soil (a few inches a part from each other) but the first few weeks are really sensitive period though..

 

[Devichan]

Wet newspapers and spread them in layers over the grass in the areas you want to garden. They'll dry into a semi-hard but still foot-friendly cover that will kill the grass. That's what my mom did, and then she tilled the newspaper in and turned the area into raised beds. Just make sure the ink is enviro-friendly if you want food plants and not decorative plants.

 

[TDolce]

Has anyone purposely killed their lawn either for a garden, or for an alternative to grass? I've debated doing this for quite a while as my lawn is patchy and, well, I hate mowing anyway. I've found tons of sites with different ideas, all of which are going to make my yard ugly for quite a while.

I'd also prefer something dog-friendly. I can't tarp the whole lawn or they'll have nowhere to go!
Most grass killer I've found doesn't seem too pet-friendly to me. Should I just use black trash bags and kill it in sections (which will take forever?) Or is there a 'quick and easy' route?

I have a teenager, so I used a huge tarp on a large part of the lawn to kill it. My teen and her friends used the tarp as a giant slip and slide. I, too, have a dog, so I didn't cover the entire yard. I have recently moved the tarp to another section of the yard to continue. It takes longer, but involved no more work than spreading the tarp and putting a few bricks down to keep in in place and waiting. I have also built raised beds for gardening, which eliminated more grass. My goal is to eliminate all the grass and hopefully have a chamomile yard, raised beds and some mulched areas. Putting down a thick layer of newspaper under the mulched areas was very helpful for keeping the grass from growing back.

 

[gmckee1985]

I've "killed" some grass before in the past. Just covered it up and killed it naturally because it couldn't get any perspiration to stay alive. I did so because I didn't really like the look of it. I replanted a whole lot of grass and even made a garden. Definitely improved the look of the grass and the overall look of my yard. Definitely glad I did. It's not a very difficult process at all it just takes a lot of patience and a little hard work.