I did not have time to plan the garden beds before winter, so now I am stuck with the task of removing a large amount of sod before planting in a few months.
I have searched, and read a lot about lasagna methods and so on, but these seem to require at least 6 months.

I am an organic gardener and so far my idea is to lay down some card board in the next few weeks, and leave it there until March. Then remove cardboard, and use a tiller and hope for the best as far weeds and grass (not)regrowing.

What do you all think? Any advice? Will the cardboard work to smother the grass in the winter?
I pretty much will be removing at least 70% of the lawn, otherwise I would just dig it up.
Thanks for the help!

Just a few questions:
Will you be using raised beds? What kind of soil do you have? Did previous owners garden/use chemicals? What kinds of plants do you want to grow? What kind of lawn do you have [Bermuda?], Is this front, side, or backyard? How large an area do you plan for a garden?

The cardboard idea sounds good. I works here in CA, so probably will work even better where you have a REAL winter season. Can you get leaves and maybe some UCG [used coffee grounds]?

You didn't know you'd get the 3rd-degree .... :)

I do not know much about lawns, I know its not caterpillar type. Other than that it's a mix of grasses, weeds etc. In the back it is some type of grass I have never seen before looks like a very short weedy type of mondo grass?? There is also a large patch of some sort of weed that is thriving and green after a very long cold snap here, so that is not a good sign.

I do not think anyone has done anything to the yard in a very long time, so I do not think chemicals were applied. But am not sure for certain.

Our soil looks decent with clay under about 6-8 inches of topsoil. I only really have looked at it while digging holes for a fence.
I did start a compost pile, and plan on putting compost on the beds.
I don't have any bulk UCG only my own personal ones which have been adding to compost pile. All of our fall leaves are in there as well.

Take Roundup (I had immediate objections, but he assured me it is not harmful to the soil, plants or animals. I'm still not sure, I'll have to check for myself)and copletely soak the area. This will kill the grass for good, but not harm underneath it. Once it's dead, till, and plant.

I made the mistake of digging up the sod and removing it. I now realize that the good soil is where the roots are.

This is in my front yard, hence, I want it to look halfway neat while it is dying . I'm hoping by April, the grass will be dead when I can till it. Since my soil is heavy clay, I plan to add lots of amendments including compost and UCG and maybe expanded shale and hopefully be able to plant perennials and mulch heavily.

LOTS of work to do. My space is smaller than yours. Haven't covered it yet with burlap but on my list for next week if new tasks to do other than gardening don't pop up as they seem to continue to do. This could take me until next fall but hope not.

BTW some vegetables are attractive enough to plant just for looks. Red Swiss Chard, Bell Peppers [hot peppers, too] sweet potato vine [can't count the number of passers-by who asked about my beautiful ground cover/vine.] I got about 30 great sweet potatoes when it came time to dig it up.

Another idea to soften your clay soil .... interspace the annuals with alfalfa plants. They are quite attractive and their roots go down to China. When you cut off at surface, the roots will stay in the soil and make it easier for other plants to send their roots down.

weebay, of course, as an organic gardener, you won't be using RoundUp, and heirloomjunkie's gardening instructor was reckless, and incorrect, regarding it. Because of its potential harm to the environment, it has some very specific, and hard to meet, conditions regarding its application.

As far as I know, applying cardboard in winter will not kill grass that is already dormant. Isn't your ground frozen and snow covered, or is my impression of Ohio incorrect? I've gotten a great deal of comfort over the years imagining that there are other states out there that experience cold weather like we Mainers do. If it isn't so, don't tell me, okay?

The reason I want to lift it early is I have quite a few different types of poppies I want to put in. I realize my planning here is not the best. I may just put the poppies in one bed that I start early, and wait with the cardboard on the rest until April.

Turn the sod over with a shovel when the soil warms up. That will kill most of the grass after a few weeks being upside down. Then go through and chop up the clods with a shovel to help kill the roots. Tilling live sod just chops everything up and allows the peices at the surface to regrow. At the last minute till (or keep chopping sod clods with the shovel) put newspaper or cardboard down after your seedlings come up and mulch heavily). During the second or third digging I usually go one layer deeper to break up the clay. This also helps get any living grass underground to kill it.

I tried to smother lawn two year ago (spring time) for a new garden by laying a doubled over blue tarp on it. The weeds actually grew quite well under the tarp.

You mentioned that this is your first house. Have you ever tried to dig out sod in this Ohio clay? You also said that the yard hadn't been maintained well in recent years. I'll bet you'll find gooey clay in spring weather, should not be worked in that condition. But once the summer arrives and it dries, digging it can be back breaking work. Also, if you dig up an area you will unearth thousands of weed seeds, bringing them to the surface where they'll sprout. You will spend your entire summer weeding. Been there, done that.

The answer really is lasagna. I've done it several times and I'm sold on the method. You end up with wonderful, soft, loamy soil with great tilth and very fertile.

Here's an area I did in 2007. Covered the lawn with cardboard around late Feb and kept it wet. Gradually added yard waste as I did spring clean-up, a few coffee grounds, whatever came along. Once the weather warmed and my husband was mowing the lawn, I was in business. I added grass clippings mixed with fall leaves and straw every time he mowed. Topped everything with half-finished compost and a little wood March. I did another area, same size, on the other side of the yard at the same time. I only ended up with around 8" deep. Covered with burlap around mid April and let it do it's thing, it shrunk down fast. Kept it moist. In mid May I transplanted my tiny wintersown annual salvia there. You can see how tiny the seedlings were.

Here's June 7, seelings growing and notice no weeds either!

Aug 31

Trust me, it's a great method.

Karen

Good luck with your project. I think you will be happy with lasagna bed results, and find it much easier than turning sod. Also, a first garden of your own is so much fun. I wish you lots of luck and happiness from it.

Let us know how it turns out for you. We're looking foreward to pretty pictures!

Karen

Lloyd

Karen

But that is where my concern stemmed from, because so many people on the wintersowing forum, talked about how it's best to transplant the poppies immeaditely after they get true leaves. So I was worried the beds wouldn't be ready, my poppies would be and then I would be in a bind.
It's been at least 5 years since I have grown poppies, and I can't remember when they like to pop up.

Do you remember when you put your poppies out? have you had trouble transplanting them from your winter sown containers? I guess now this is turning into a wintersowing discussion, ha!
your poppy photos are great!

Lloyd

Just transplant poppies when tiny, 1 or 2 true leaves, before the taproot grows. If transplanting into a pile of garbage scares you, just spread a little soil or potting mix on top or line the planting hole with it.

Poppies sprout early, germinating at low temps. If there's a warm spring and the seedlings are ready in March or April, plant them out then.

Start your lasagna soon. Cover lawn with WET cardboard. Build the hump as you get material, doesn't have to be all at once. Moisten often, keep moist throughout. It'll be great.

Where do you live? Feel free to email me if you like.

Karen

Karen

I started in the fall by laying newspaper and cardboard, whatever I had around over the grass, wetting it down, and adding 6 to 8 inches of chopped leaves over that. The leaves have settled by half now. When planting time approaches I will add some compost, alfalfa meal and BioTone over the top to speed up decomposition and add bacteria and fungi and nitrogen to the leaf layer. When I plant the plugs (2 1/2" to 3" cells) I'll just dig a hole large enough to put the plant in and keep the surrounding leaf layer as mulch. Some of the partially composted leaf layer will naturally mix in with the native soil as I plant. I started this bed last winter and am tripling the size because it has been so successful. The leaf layer actually provided a sufficient mulch for the whole summer without supplementation. I had minimal weeding to do except pull out a few volunteer tomatoes from the added compost!

This year the old section of the bed will get a top dressing of chopped leaves as mulch. By next year the plants should be grown sufficiently together to eliminate the need to mulch for weed control entirely. An added benefit is the explosion of worms you get when you use the paper/leaf method. The birds sure know where to go for a good meal!

On a side note, you can start now. I waited until February last year to start the first part of the garden, and by mid to late April I was planting. The only grass that came back was actually growing on top of the paper, not through it. Just keep the initial top layer fairly deep, 6 to 8 inches should do it. It will settle considerably.