Do I have to remove the grass?

SlapHappy - Of course, any reputable gardener with half a chance has already ordered their seeds...

(Just kidding - it relieves my stress too - altho I did order my seeds over the weekend - why I don't know because I don't think we're going to have snow melt here till mid July at this rate...)

NHGardener wrote:SlapHappy - Of course, any reputable gardener with half a chance...

Yeah, half a chance. I'd be thrilled to have Half a chance. As of now, I think I'll be lucky to see anything green at all in my garden.

Speaking of seeds, I just placed an order today. I'm still not sure what I'm actually going to plant, but I got a bunch of different stuff. I did get a Nantes carrot for that other carrot project thread. So, that's one square spoken for. 15 more to go...

I'm gonna staple weedcloth aound the outside of the box and set it on cardbord i think

mjhouska,

So glad you could join us!

Hope you have had a chance to check around the various threads to perhaps answer some of your questions about SFG. If you have questions, please ask. We have many members that would be glad to help you out.

Are you new to SFG or just new to our forum? Please keep us up to date on your progress and just so you know, we love pictures.

I dug the sod out of mine and put down weed barrier, but still have problems keeping the grass out. I had to empty my boxes and replace the weed barrier at the start of year 2 (2010) and it looks like I will have to do it again this year (2011) as grass was growing up out of my boxes by fall last year. I even used thicker weed barrier but the grass has grown up through it again.

I am in Canada, so I don't think we have bermuda grass but it is very pesty none the less.

We live on very sandy soil here (our subdivision is actually built on sand dunes believe it or not!) and the grass doesn't grow very well generally even in the lawn as the summer does get hot & dry. The fertile soil & regular watering of the SFG sure makes the grass persistant!

I may have to remove the sod from around the outside of the boxes and cover with gravel or woodchips to add some distance between the grass and the boxes. Emptying the boxes last year was a lot of work, and I added more, so now I have more than double the work this spring. The grass ran into the boxes from the grass outside the box, so I don't cardboard would have made any difference. The grass poked thru the weed barrier without any problem.

I will need to make sure it is done right this time, I am getting tired of emptying, sifting out the grass runners, and refilling my boxes. Mel's mix is too expensive to throw away and start over, so I screen out the grass runners and put it back into the boxes.

bullfrogbabe wrote:I dug the sod out of mine and put down weed barrier, but still have problems keeping the grass out...

Wow, I'm sorry you have to go through all that. Now you've got me worried again.

Do you happen to know what kind of grass you have? From what I've been reading, some grass spread horizontally using rhizomes, but maybe not all grasses?

Can anyone recommend a site to help identify what kind of grass we have?

The only thing I know about my grass is that it was laid down as sod about 7 years ago.

I can tell you that I have tons of the bad stuff with rhizomes (grass, weeds, and vines) and I just put down cardboard and weed block and haven't had any of it come through.

No, you don't have to. Put cardboard down and pour MM on top. The single grass blades do occasionally come out, but you just pull them or cut them and you are done. This digging up grass is a painful process, and it still doesn't take care of business, because there are roots.

The problem we have in this area is bermuda grass. It goes dormant in the winter, so it is all brown right now.

If you put cardboard down and then MM on top, what happens next year when the cardboard is composted into the soil?

NHGardener wrote:If you put cardboard down and then MM on top, what happens next year when the cardboard is composted into the soil?

I hope I am understanding what you are asking. The cardboard composts under the MM and becomes part of your nutrient rich soil (it encourages worms). Most weeds and grass die after being covered with cardboard and soil due to lack of light. (like the tent I left outside for way too long killed the lawn)

I don't think I explained this correctly so if someone else would chime in it would be appreciated.

happycamper, I think I get it. Subsequent years wouldn't worry about weeds, because they have already pretty much died after year 1?