How to Dig Up Grass

Question

I have a patch of lawn in the front of my house, approximately 7 by 9 meters. I’m tired of the maintenance and really am not that much of a grass fan anyhow. I was thinking about removing the grass and doing some landscaping. I was thinking I could dig up the grass and fill the area with drainage stones, get some stone slabs for a pathway and maybe some potted plants. I realize this might take some work, but I thought if I could do it myself it would be relatively inexpensive. The biggest task is going to be removing the lawn. Could you tell me how I could go about this? What tools will I need and what steps should I take? Also, how can I get rid of the roots so the grass doesn’t grow back in a year?

Answer 1

If there is a lot of grass already in that area, your could rent a Turf Cutter machine from a local rental outfit. Set it to cut down a good 2 inches or more. Run that over the entire area, cleaning up and hauling off all the debris. Then use a heavy duty rear tines tiller, which should break up the hard ground rather easily. Till the soil up going one direction. Use a hard toothed rake to remove as many roots as you possibly can and add several bags of compost over the area (about 2-3 inches deep). Till the area again going both directions. Water the area well and let sit for about 5 days. Lightly till the area one more time and you are ready to plant.