Should/Must I remove grass?

**Jerry Nielsen** 6/16/2010, 9:39 pm

Hi all,

I have built two boxes and am ready to make my Mel's Mix and fill them.

I am establishing my new garden on a lawn of Saint Augustine grass. The bottoms of both boxes have weed cloth. I know that Mel instructs us to remove the grass. This St. Augustine is well established and pretty thick. I was planning on leaving it as the path material between my boxes.

MUST I remove the grass below the boxes? It will not be an easy chore. I could use it to fill in some bare spots in the lawn, but if it is really unnecessary, I would be inclined not to do it. (It will be hard work for these old bones.) Should/Must I remove grass? Icon_biggrin

What would the possible adverse effects be to leaving the grass in place and just filling my boxes and planting?

OK. That's it in a nut shell. I would appreciate your input.

Jerry Nielsen

flintlock28 6/16/2010, 10:41 pm

This is my first year using the SFG method. I did what you did, and just put weed block on the bottom of my 4'x4', without removing the grass.

So far, I have not had any thing grow through........ I'll keep my fingers crossed. I'm not familiar with the type of grass you mentioned though...so your mileage may vary.

Don

Retired Member 1 6/16/2010, 10:50 pm

If I remember correctly, St. Augustine is not too invasive, so you would probably be OK to put down a thick layer of wet newspapers and the weed cloth on top of that. The wet newspapers will kill the grass quicker than just the weed cloth. If it were Bermuda, I'd be telling you to dig it out as it is so invasive (ask me how I know! Should/Must I remove grass? Icon_eek

).

aspiegardner 6/16/2010, 11:29 pm

My sfg's are in the back back yard which was mostly creeping vine/goat head weeds. All I've done is put newspaper down and the boxes and I did not have a single weed.

Stupidly I left them uncovered in the winter and had a mess in them come spring. This year I'm covering them with plastic to avoid the weedy mess.

For the watermelon/pumpkin/squash since I had to have room for them to really grow I dug out a huge 40' by 6' area and made sure it was 100% weed free.

**Jerry Nielsen** 6/17/2010, 1:52 pm

Hi all,

I can't decide which is better, so I am going to lay the newspaper on the grass and put one box with weed cloth on it. I will ldig out the grass on the other box, and we will see which box does best or if the St. Augustine is invasive or not.

I'll let you know the result.

Jerry Nielsen

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Should/Must I remove grass?

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Time for a split test I think.

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