Raised beds over grass?
WendiLA
10 years ago
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galinas
10 years agodigdirt2
10 years agoRelated Discussions
How to stop grass growing in my raised beds?
Comments (21)DH put in 3 raised beds for me 3 years ago. This is our third year and only minimal Bermuda grass coming through. Here is what he did. 1. Scalp the ground with the weed wacker down to dirt. 2. Lay down two layers of 10 year black weed blocker paper (water permeable). The bottom layer north to south and top layer east to west -and- he extended the paper about 3 inches outside the wood box. 3. Fill the beds (all 4x4) with potting mix and peat moss and all the old growing medium from our EarthBoxes. 4. During the summer and fall he regularly weed-wacks all around the raised beds to keep down any weeds in the area. The Bermuda grass has only rarely grown up thru the 10 inches of 'dirt' and I have no mulch around my okra, beans and squash. I plant collard greens in these same beds in fall and they stay until spring - still very, very few weeds. I credit the scalping DH does with weed-wacker for keeping the weeds from growing wild around the beds. I credit the weed-block paper for keeping the weeds almost completely out of the beds. DL...See MoreKilling grass beneath raised bed
Comments (19)Whether your method of building this raised bed will kill the grass that was growing there depends on which grass it was. All of the current top growth will die, because without access to sunlight (which you have denied those plants with the newspaper) plants cannot grow. However, some species of grass (and this is why they are invasive) have root systems that store large quantities of nutrients that will allow them to grow even in very adverse conditions. Grass species such as Quack Grass are well known for being very invasive while many of the grasses we wish would grow are really very wimpy. So, will your raised bed kill the grass that was growing there before? Yes, but if there are invasive species of grass they could well grow through the raised bed, eventually....See Moreremove grass beneath raised bed?
Comments (8)I had my garden re done and veggie beds raised several yours ago.This is what professionals did exactly as nicely said in this post, so I will paste it: "Cardboard and or newspaper is a good idea to smoother the grass. If you do cut the sod with a sod cutter you could turn the cut sod upside down so that the grass side is in the dirt and the dirt side is up" That made sense to me too, so here is what I had to learn the hard way. I had no veggies for couple of years following that makeover.I had to find out what was eating and killing all my newly planted veggies ?The beds were totally infested with wire worms.When I took a shovel full of soil to garden masters to help me diagnose they were under impression that it took me several hours to collect that many healthy and shiny as they said wire worms.After I explained that I just took a shovel and that is what I came up with.They were shocked and said that the best way to deal with this problem was to remove all soil and start new.I have raised beds and it would have been a huge not to mention expensive project.So I have taken lots of time to learn all about them and how to get rid of them.Took at least 2 to 3 years to get rid of them totally.Wire worms live undisturbed under your lawn not too deeply.They do not travel horizontally so they won't cross to your veggie path even if its next to it.As you disturb "their home"they will come up to surface no matter how high you cover it.They want to live.Since you will have newly planted plants they will eat them or make tunnels in your veggies that nothing will be left for you.So if I were to do it again I would not even consider putting this in the bottom of my compost.I hope it helps you as they are not easy to deal with and they multiply really fast.Good luck to you....See MoreBermuda grass in raised rose bed
Comments (34)Thank you very much for the information David, but a couple of things aren't clear to me. You wrote, "In the end the 2,4,5 T or 2,4, D are NOT anywhere near as dangerous as the DIOXIN by-product created from making these 'weed-killers'." Well, at least that's good to know. "It" was stopped being made years ago." What 'it' was stopped -- the manufacture of glyphosate? "But by law the stuff made still can be sold until the supply is exhausted." Do you mean the supply of Roundup's active ingredient, glyphosate, will not be made when the supply that was made years ago is exhausted? "The PAN reference I was looking the other day says Scotts stopped in 1996. To still 14 years later have product seems unbelievable so I need to figure out how long ago Ortho was bought out by Scotts because this part still doesn't make sense to me as yet." Does this mean that when the previously made supply of glyphosate runs out Roundup will no longer be available? And that presumably Scott bought up Ortho's supply? BTW, didn't Monsanto spend millions developing plants that were resistant to Roundup so the weeds could be sprayed without it affecting the food crop and called the seeds to those food crops 'Roundup ready'? Why would they do that if the manufacture of Roundup is to be discontinued? I just read this on Monsanto's site: "Roundup® agricultural herbicides are the flagship of Monsanto's agricultural chemicals business. The properties of Roundup agricultural herbicides and other glyphosate products can be used as part of an environmentally responsible weed control program and fit with the vision of sustainable agriculture and environmental" Sorry to be so dense but I really don't understand all this. I didn't even know that Grass b Gone was related to Round Up. I'm not educated in chemistry and thought that the 2,4, numbers, etc. just referred to where molecules attached to one another and not were not necessarily referring to molecules that were related to one another. In other words I thought fluazifop (Grass B Gone) was unrelated to glyphosate (Roundup). But if they are closely related it seems that Roundup would be pulled as well as Grass B Gone. So if anyone can clarify some of this I'd appreciate it. Thanks in advance....See Morepbilek
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