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pretzel_logic60

What to do with dug up sod?

pretzel_logic60
15 years ago

I moved into a new to me house last summer and will be digging up quite a bit of sod for some border gardens, foundation, around a deck and so on. What are some of the best ways to turn the sod into useful material for reuse.

I am making a little compost bin, a 2 section affair and figured I could just throw it in there but I'm sure I'll have much more sod than the bins could hold. And I'd like to actually use the bins to make real compost as well.

I suppose I could really work my tail off and try to get as much soil out of the sod as possible but am wondering what others do.

BP

Comments (16)

  • mommyandme
    15 years ago

    There is absolutely no need to remove the sod. Cover the areas you want cleared with wet cardboard or a thick layer of wet newspaper. Cover this with whatever organic material you have available. It doesn't have to be a really thick covering like a lasagne garden; just a few inches of grass clippings, chopped leaves, wood chips, whatever you can get free. Do a section at a time when you have materials available. The sod will die in place & you will have nice loose soil to work with without an aching back. Back in CT, I started every one of my shrub and flower borders this way.

  • ajpa
    15 years ago

    I agree with covering the grass with cardboard.
    But if you want to take the sod off for whatever reason , you can just flip it over in place.

  • rj_hythloday
    15 years ago

    ummm.... as long as it's not bermuda. I just dug out about 2x20ft to expand my bed from last year. I used a screen to help break up the soil out of it, and put the remnants in my bin. The sifted soil was put back in the same place and mulch raked over top of it from the lawn. Took about 8 hrs over 3 or 4 different days to get it done.

  • luckygal
    15 years ago

    Whenever we've enlarged our perennial beds my DH has removed the sod as we've wanted to put better soil in the bed w/out waiting for a lasagna bed. I've also noticed when planting thru holes in newspaper that weeds will find their way thru close to the plant and are very difficult if not impossible to remove without digging up the perennial again.

    What DH has done with the sods is placed them upside down in a pile and left them to decompose. When they were definitely showing no signs of life after a couple of years I used them mixed in with my home-made mulch. A faster way might be to put them on the bottom of the compost bin upside down.

  • rj_hythloday
    15 years ago

    You can rent a sod cutter from a hd or lowes, not sure how much but it'd be worth it if, it's a large area.

  • bob64
    15 years ago

    I agree that you can kill it in place. But if you don't, you could actually make a compost "bin" out of the piled up pieces (pile them up upside down). If concerned about re-rooting, place sheets of newspaper between each piece of sod and between the sod and the ground. Also look up German Mound composting.

  • Kimmsr
    15 years ago

    Since Bermuda grass is seldom a problem in zone 5 it should not be of concern. There is no good reason to remove the sod, because when you do you are removing your "topsoil" also, and then you need to get more. Far better is to simply lay some newspaper, or cardboard, over the existing grass, in the pattern you want your beds, and let the grass that is there die (lack of sunlight will cause that grass to die) and then plant. Most often I will do this where I want a new planting bed next year, but you can do this 6 to 8 weeks ahead of planting. Much sooner than that and you can get grass growing up throuh the planting holes because there was not time to kill the grass.
    Laying newspaper, or cardboard, over the existing grass kills that grass and adds it to your soil as organic matter, adds that to the "topsoil" you already have. I have seen people diligently dig out the sod, and the "topsoil" and throw it away and then go to the store and buy more "topsoil" to replace what they just threw away which more than likely is not nearly as good as what they threw away.

  • fatbaldguy
    15 years ago

    Hmmmph.....the Bermuda grass the previous owners put down in my Zone 5 lawn is a real pain in the grass.

    Here is what I've done; Use a sweat powered sod cutter, turn the sod over, cover with cardboard and or newsprint. Cover that with lots and lots of FRESH, RAW, horse manure/stall muckings. Cover that with a few inches of leaves. In a few weeks(4-6, unless its fall), fork the leaves, manure, cardboard, paper, and mostly dead sod, into the first few inches of soil. Plant. Mulch. I've had pretty good results with this method. Any disruption of the SFW is quickly overcome/restored, it may even be improved, regardless of what some self-styled experts may say. If this were for vegetables, I might or might not plant immediately. I've done both and have never had any disease pathogens infect the produce or the people tending the garden. Of course you have to make that decision for yourself and have your own comfort level with it.

    Alternatively, remove the sod and stack it to form a backwall for a new compost bin. If it grows, trim it to keep it looking nice. The Brits do the stacked sod wall thing all the time on their golf courses.

  • pretzel_logic60
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Thanks for all the replies. What I was able to start on last year was basically digging up some of the sod and turned it over. I definitely don't want to buy soil, compost material that I'll do. I have about 10 or 12 bags of oak leaves that I'll be mulching or shredding for use in the beds as well.

    One thing about my foundation areas is the previous owner spread river rock along the whole foundation and it was a heck of a job just trying to remove some of that. I had an old neighbor take some of it, yes he did the digging. The rest I'll remove myself and find a use for it.

    I'm thinking that wherever else I want to do beds I will turn the sod over and cover. We are just starting to get a decent day here and there outside of Chicago and though everything is mud it's easy to turn the stuff over. By the time I'm ready to start planting in late April or early May hopefully the grass will be dead.

    I definitely have my work cut out for me here, the yard is wonderful but lacks any real features other than a couple wonderful Pin Oaks, Birch and some funky Pines along the back, not sure what they are exactly but they sure drop the pine cones. I may remove a couple, one is blocking a smaller Bald Cyprus and I have 3 others a little too close together.

    Thanks again for all the advice...

    Brian

  • albert_135   39.17°N 119.76°W 4695ft.
    15 years ago

    I read somewhere to cut sod into squares and put it upside down and in a flat and start seed in it. I asked on one of these forums at the time if anyone had ever tried this and just got some curt response.

  • linrose
    15 years ago

    I'm a lazy gardener and use the cardboard/newspaper topped with shredded leaves, etc. method whenever I can. However, just this past weekend my DH was inspired to expand a bed for new bare-root roses I have coming this week. I was fine with it, mostly because he was the one who was going to be stripping the sod as we didn't have time to do the usual sheet composting thing. I had to keep reminding him it was his idea. He didn't like that.

    Anyway, after two backbreaking days, a whirlpool bath and lots of Absorbine Jr. later, there is a nice clean area to immediately begin working in. And lots of squares of turf.

    So after he filled in what he likes to call "land dimples" and covering some eroded areas in the field, we were still left with lots of turf squares. So while the sun was setting we just started to pile them up and were inspired to make some turf benches, very medieval, like fatbaldguy suggested the British still do. They're actually very practical, free, and comfy! I suppose they'll rot down in time and sort of slump into a big pile of soil but then I can use it back in the garden. If we wanted to maintain them we could make wooden lattice or brick sides or what have you and just keep the turf top. In medieval times they often used chamomile on the tops - to keep body odors at bay presumably - but grass is cool too!

    I like the compost bin idea as well. Yet another creative use for sod! But again, if I had my druthers, I'd always go with the sheet composting method.

  • ajpa
    15 years ago

    How do you make turf benches? Pics please?

  • linrose
    15 years ago

    All we did is stack the turf layers - each piece about the size of the flat spade we used - into a size amenable to sitting, about 18" high by 18" deep by 5 feet or so long. I don't have a pic, but it really just looks like a stack of sod layers right now. If (and that's a BIG if) the grass grows, the sides could become solid grass and you wouldn't see the layers anymore. If I was more thoughtful when we built it I could have lapped the edges over a bit on the sides to cover the soil layer below, like overlapping icing on a layer cake, but that didn't happen. Like I said before, you could contain the sides with some sort of support if you were so inclined to prevent the slumping that will probably occur with decomposition of the grass in the layers. Right now the grass roots are holding the whole thing together.

    It was just a fun thing to do, and if it works, I'll let you know!

  • rj_hythloday
    15 years ago

    This artist is quite fond of them.


    {{gwi:271208}}

    I'd imagine it's very comfy!

  • ajpa
    15 years ago

    That's a pretty painting!

  • linrose
    15 years ago

    The best modern day representation I've found comes from this website below. There you'll find photos of both a brick faced version and a freestanding all turf semi-circular seat known as an exedra.

    Here is a link that might be useful: The Medieval Gardener