New to gardening after some help please

[Alan]

Hi there I am after some advice please.I have a lawn at the back of my house and i want to turn half of it in to an allotment ,is it better to de turf or just put a membrane over the grass to kill it off before turning the soil over .many thanks in advance Alan.

 

[Robert Cummings]

Hi Alan, You have a couple of options in creating a vegetable garden where there is presently turf. If you have access or are willing to hire a turf cutting machine this will cut the turf thinly, you can then either discard it, compost it or turn the turf upside down in situ and let the grass and nutrients go back into the soil. Or you could weed kill the area you wish to dig up, waiting for the grass to die right back before digging the soil over.Nothing wrong with the membrane system either but the turf cutter idea would be the quickest. Whichever way you decide to go remember that you only get out what you put in, in other words if you look after your plot feed it well with manure compost etc it will reward you with plenty.

 

[Alan]

Hi Alan, You have a couple of options in creating a vegetable garden where there is presently turf. If you have access or are willing to hire a turf cutting machine this will cut the turf thinly, you can then either discard it, compost it or turn the turf upside down in situ and let the grass and nutrients go back into the soil. Or you could weed kill the area you wish to dig up, waiting for the grass to die right back before digging the soil over.Nothing wrong with the membrane system either but the turf cutter idea would be the quickest. Whichever way you decide to go remember that you only get out what you put in, in other words if you look after your plot feed it well with manure compost etc it will reward you with plenty.

Thanks for your reply i might just dig it over and dig the turf in and then cover it with membrane after leveling it to speed up the rotting process and then take off the membrane jan /feb and lay on some mature cow muck (4 years old) nice and dark and mature and non smelling over the soil .

 

[Robert Cummings]

Alan, Please be careful with just digging in your turf as pernicious weeds such as docks and buttercup will regrow even if you cover with a membrane, you really need to ensure the turf is properly dead and decomposing before digging it in, the cleaner (more weed free) you can keep the soil, the easier your job will be. Some weeds grow by underground runners the same way as strawberries do so your membrane would help but you would really be undoing much good work by digging in turf which is not properly rotted.

 

[Alan]

Ok thanks i will cover with membrane and visquine plastic sheet first to kill and rot the grass before it is dug in.Would it be better hand dug or dug by rotavator/tiller

 

[Robert Cummings]

Hand dig to start with Alan, if you're feeling really fit you could double dig with manure in bottom spit. Problem with rotavator is that they create a 'pan' of hard undisturbed soil not to deep down, but once you have dug by hand you can always go over the plot with rotavator to break up any lumps or prepare a finer seed bed.

 

[Alan]

Thank you very much indeed sorry for being a pain your advice is very much appreciated many thanks

 

[Robert Cummings]

No probs Alan, ask away, we are all here to help and gain knowledge from one another.

 

[Beth_B]

Another idea for you to consider, Alan: lasagne gardening; google that. I did it at a previous house for my veg garden and it worked out brilliantly.

I have not found visquine or weed barriers to be effective for more than a year or maybe two.

Get the dirt right, mulch really really heavily like 2-4 inches and Bob's your uncle.

 

[alp]

Yes, I agree with @Beth_B It might be a good idea to buy some good quality top soil and start your planting or growing. Weed suppressing membrane never really works for me as weeds just grow through it.

I use my compost from the compost bin and my plot has been covered with tons of horrible weeds .. it's an on-going battle which I have declared defeat .. beaten, demoralised..

I'm thinking of lining my compost bin with thick polystyrene or even insulation materials to see if the process will kill the weeds. No point have muscari sneering at me every spring!

 

[Robert Cummings]

Many people make compost with everything that grows in the garden, this can be done but you need to be very selective about how you compost pernicious weeds if you don't want them sprouting all over your veg patch.The way we deal with this is to set these weeds aside from the compost heap in the sun until crispy dry dead, then add to the compost heap and cover with a quick degrading material such as grass cuttings, this really works well. But fresh perennial weeds added to compost heap will spread weeds profusely.

 

[Alan]

Thanks for all your helpfull replies