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Grow Annual after Killing Grass on Beds

2 years ago

After a few years of neglect, my flower beds were filled with grass and weeds. This year I decided to kill the grass/weeds using Roundup this year. This is what one of them looks like now.

Now I want to plant annuals on them. For this year, I have decided to go with zinnia, marigold and nasturtium from seeds because they are fast to flower.

My question is, what should I do to the bed before I plant the seeds? Should I turn over the grass? Or can I just make some holes and plant the seeds in? My worry is if I turn the soil, I might turn up some weed seeds and they will start to germinate.

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Comments (4)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
2 years ago
little late to be thinking seed..any budget to just go buy some small plants??

if so .. dig a hole ... loosen the soil in said hole ... insert plant .. and cover the whole bed with a good mulch ... if need me.. excavate at the walkway edge.. so the mulch stays in the bed ...

btw.. whats you native soil type??? ... any bad clay???

by next year.. the grass will have rotted down and you should have some nice soil to plant in ...

seedlings should have been started over a month or so ago .. and be ready to take off ..

if you want to try some seed.. no reason you couldnt buy a few plants.. and try some seed .. best way to learn.. but you are going to have to do a lot of soil prep to grow seeds ...

in our MI ... the heat of summer... starts building in july.. and you have to have your plants well established.. to survive.. it will be very hard to germinate and get a seedling big enough to handle mid summer heat ..

all that said.. i learned more experimenting than i ever did reading about it.. so try both ...

ken
davemichigan
Original Author
2 years ago
Hi Ken, just want to leave a note to say thanks for your comment.

I have decided to not bother with annuals this year. Will till the bed a little in July and grow some perennials in late July (from purchased plants). Then maybe experiment with some perennial seeds in August to give them some head start.
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I think getting rid of the grass is the worst part of starting a new garden area, and since we like to add on every year we always have to deal with your problem. Hopefully this year will be easier for us though since we will be getting a tiller for our tractor and I figure we will be able to till it a lot more since it will be faster that doing it with a regular tiller. Anyhow I wish I could offer you more advice, but the only thing that I could suggest that works for us is if you do like grandad mentioned and them rake the clumps in your walkway and the good dirt where you will be planting. Good luck and hopefully some others will have more advice.
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you can use straw or hay, whatever is convenient. what i actually used was mostly bales of pasture grass hay and bales of sugar can mulch, straw quiet often contain seed from the left over harvest, harvesters do not harvest 100% so you can get growths but these are not weeds and nothing to worry about, i have used straw and experienced that, but where it is possible to get grass growing from hay it is not any more probable, our instances of sprouting from hay are negligable. any sproutings we do get we pull up when they are large enough and tuck them under the mulch as extra nutrient, they have never become a perpetuating weed. we spend almost nill time weeding. the grass we had to cover was kykuya (spelling?) it is a very hard grass to control in the same league as nut grass, so we feel confident that if anyone uses the same processes we did they will get just as good results. once a grass is destroyed it does not matter how strong the runners or seeds are they will not survive the composting effect under the process we use. len Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page
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i'm a big mulch gardener, and like ricky, i've basically stopped digging holes. now's the time to start! all over my neighborhood are conveniently bagged oak leaves, waiting to be dumped upon newspaper and cardboard. a couple of things if you go this route: 1) it takes A LOT OF NEWSPAPERS. way more than you'd think. a minimum of 3 layers, five is better. overlap them at least 4 inches. 2) water the ground thoroughly before you begin 3) layers are great -- green brown green brown. but i often just do brown, with a liberal scoop of cottonseed meal to get things going. 4) cardboard for areas that you won't be planting in for a while, or areas that you want to be low maintenance. the cardboard can block water, so be careful (tho the whole blocking water is a good thing if you want a low maintenance, just-mulch bed) 5) if you want a more homogenized look, get a few bales of pine straw and strew it on top. but i'm satisfied with just brown leaves and/or tree trimmings from the utility co (i've grown really fond of utility cuttings, since they have lot of young branches and leaves, which is great material) 6) consider running an emitter spray irrigation system beneath the mulch. easier when you're just getting started. i love these systems (available from the bigbox stores). 7) if you have a LOT of leaves, consider mulching with your lawnmower. it'll speed things up a lot.
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Found this question while on a different search. Long past the initial inquiry, but some ideas if you're still dealing with this. If the weed grasses are identified correctly, you could consider using Imazapic herbicide (Plateau, Panoramic, or a generic) at 4 to 8 ounces per acre for control with minimal damage to the desirable native wildflowers and grasses, and possibly none depending on what was in your planted mix and what rate you use. Use higher rates if there is a lot of growth or old plant litter. Use lower rates if the site has been cleaned of by burning. It can be applied both Pre-emergent (like right after a burn or mowing) or Post-emergent after the weeds are up, but works best if done early in the growing season before the weeds get too far along. Can be broadcast sprayed over the entire area or selectively sprayed with a wand to avoid application to desirable plants. Another herbicide that works well is Mesotrione, but best applied by selective spraying with a wand as it may cause more damage to some of the native wildflowers.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
2 years ago
in MI ... you should not plant in july/august ....

buy your pots of plants in the bargain rack now ... but plan on planting them in sept ... the key is cooler nights .. for a recovery period after whatever the day may bring ...

anything is possible.. in just talking about making it easier.. on you and the plants ....

but if you insist.. plant in august ... what the heck.. live and learn ... and then let us know what you learned ...

ken
Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
2 years ago
If this was my area, I would cover it with cardboard under 4-6" of mulch and wait until spring to do anything else. Once you have a "clean slate" like that, you could put potted plants there, a shepherd's hook with a hanging pot, whatever you find interesting while the dead grass and cardboard decompose under the mulch.

Is there a baby tree growing out of the middle of your Hydrangea?

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