New Garden

SouthernX · Feb 15, 2009

My wife and I want to put out a larger garden this year. We have a spot for it but this ground has never been planted before. It is covered with grass and legumes. I want to make sure that I prepare the soil so that it does not start growing grass and legumes after we have planted the garden. Will rototilling alone sufficiently pulverize the existing grass and legumes (and their roots) to keep the grass and legumes from coming back? Or, will I need to use a box blade and/or FEL to peel away a layer of soil to get the grass and legumes (and their roots) completely out of the garden soil.

Hope that made sense.

MarkV · Feb 15, 2009

What is generally recommended around here is to use round-up, wait two weeks for new sprouting and use round-up again. Then till or plow or the grass/weeds will come back.

MarkV

jeffinsgf · Feb 15, 2009

I'm doing some of the same this year. I bought a tiller last fall. In the area where I'm planning to expand the garden I tilled a small patch, just to get a feel for the tiller. This was in the late summer/early fall, and it didn't grow a thing. I'm not going to worry about killing the existing growth. I think the tiller will do just fine on its own. That said, I'll be adding a lot of soil amendments, raising the level of the area by a few inches, and probably tilling two or three times to incorporate everything.

groundcover · Feb 15, 2009

I have had good luck with MARKV's program. I think you will spend your summer weeding otherwise.

radioman · Feb 15, 2009

I have successfully rototilled fresh ground with grass for a garden. It took me a week of tilling once a day tough for a super fine/smooth garden. I know it a little bit of over kill but with each day after its been rototilledd, it helps to have garden dry out and warm up the soil faster and the soil gets finer with each passing day of being tilled daily. (I even tilled twice a day for fun - one in late morning and one before dinner if i was home that day. I wanted the seat time and its fun for me). roundup does work, but imho its a waste of money. If you leave rows big enough for your tiller at least 1.5 times wide as tiller, you can keep weeds down by tilling often like once a week till plants are too big to go between.

klrobert · Feb 15, 2009

I agree with the roundup suggestion. We made a garden by just tilling up an area without using roundup and it was a constant battle with weeds and grass for several years.