Removing Grass

Krista · 2024-05-26T15:57:18+00:00

I’m hoping for recommendations for removing lawn by hand. I know this will take some elbow grease to do without machinery, so I’d like to find out what tools...

Teddahlia

Bermuda grass does not grow in Seattle.

Krista

Teddahlia What about Yakima? 🥴

SteveM

Krista I don't about Bermuda grass in the PNW but I do remember my father paying me 5¢ an hour to dig and remove the rhizomes of what we called "quack grass' in Montana. 🙂 If you dig up one plant you will know if it is spread by a rhizome. If so, they will need to be pulled by hand (or nuked)) and do not multiply them by rototilling.

blown_dry

Krista Yes, with soil/compost on top and watered regularly, the cardboard is quickly going to be penetrable for roots. For large areas of grass I have also applied "round up" with a paint roller which could be combined with a long pole so you are not bending over. I never spray it for a variety of reasons. Then you could then top it with cardboard and soil. The grass and turf is going to be breaking down, so maybe a bit of extra nitrogen?

Krista

SteveM, I am so glad you're able to advise not to root till this type of grass. Thank You! I certainly wouldn’t have known better. And I’d take any payment for time spent on this today, to be honest 😅 I guess I’m actually paying to do this.

calico20hill What an adventure, Noni, I will be careful of deer as best I can on the drive; I’m glad you were all safe! And thank you for explaining the difference for clarity that being on the other side of the Cascades poses. It is absolutely a whole different climate, and I imagine I’ll once again have to experiment new methods for tuber storage as the air is world’s dryer than the PNW.

blown_dry I had not heard of using roundup safely just by not spraying. I’ll do some more research about this, thank you! Using a paint roller with a long handle is genius.

Juliarugula

Bermuda is the worst. I think of it as a warm climate grass though. We had it in Houston. Nothing could kill it.

calico20hill

For those not familiar with Yakima....It is as different from Seattle as two cities can be! They are on two different sides of the Cascade Mountains. Yakima is famous for growing cherries and peaches, plums, apples pears...watermelons. Seattle is famous for fog, rain, sea food, slugs and lovely summers (Once the sun comes out and warms things up after the 4th of July). Winters in Yakima will be much colder then Seattle. And there will be Snow. And frosts. The last time I was in Yakima it was August and about 112 degrees. Or more. And we had hit a deer on the freeway going over the pass from Seatte and ended up marooned for hours in the heat just trying to GET to Yakima for a family reunion...You know, have the car towed (eventually back to Seattle) where it was repaired...find a rental, process all the paper work...I think that was all in Ellensburg then we still had to get to Yakima! So watch those deer on the passes while you are moving, Krista! We were in the 3rd lane of the freeway and it jumped between a big truck and a car right onto our windshield.

Veryzer

SteveM This is what my brother suggested after I filled a lot of lawn bags....and had more than one break on the bottom because of moisture after sitting a few days. In my experience it took a couple weeks for the grass to die, then I'd turn it all over.

blown_dry

Krista I also wear waterproof disposable gloves. I don't want to say this makes it safe, but it must make it safer and makes it much more controllable. I usually apply with a paintbrush instead of a roller, because my usual application for it is bindweed. I also have "tree bindweed" aka mayten tree. It sprouts from roots and it crops up, sometimes 30 feet from the original trunk (long gone now) and very quickly grows tall. Presumably the "instant tree" aspect made it attractive in landscaping, but it is a menace.

Teddahlia

Round up is a useful chemical in moderation and with lots of precautions. I spray it no more than once per year and may not this year.

Krista

blown_dry This is very helpful. I’m sorry to hear about the tree bindweed. I will soon be trying to figure out how to remove an age-old wisteria growing over the trellis outside the sunroom. Runners are exploding all over the lawn and around the foundation of the house which doesn’t bode well. Not sure I’ll win the fight on this one without a nuclear option so finding out how you manage it is very very encouraging.

Juliarugula

Krista I actually have pretty successfully removed a very well established wisteria from our property. It took several years of pulling up runners whenever I found them, but it was doable. Use stump killer on the main “trunk” if you can - it helps.

I keep roundup on hand for 1) Poison Ivy (but I don’t find much of it) and B)Canada thistle, which seems to be slowly taking over the world in these parts…. So hard to get rid of that stuff, even with round up.

Krista

Juliarugula I am so excited to hear someone’s successfully removed wisteria! And thank you for the tip on “stump killer” — this is a new-to-me product! Feeling very thankful for the expertise and big brains here, I will look into it!

KitCMC

Juliarugula on the chance you haven’t heard this, roundup can work better on Canadian thistle in the early fall when the plants start storing nutrients from the leaves in the DEEP root system for winter. It actually pulls the glyphosate far enough down the root to have an impact.

Teddahlia

KitCMC Wayne Lobaugh of Lobaughs Dahlia is a city parks manager and he says roundup can be used to kill black berries too. I believe it is the same strategy you stated.

Juliarugula

KitCMC thanks so much for that info! I had not read about this, but in retrospect, this has been my experience also. I wouldn’t have noticed though if you hadn’t brought it up - greatly appreciated!

DarcyD

I’m late to the party, but we’ve always rented a sod cutter. We’ve however reached a “no more turf” clause in our marriage. Hubby reluctant now to give up turf space so I’ve moved to the edges and beds for dahlias and fillers. 😂 This year I removed this ugly little spreading buttercup and turned it into a waterlily bed, and a swath of weeds and boring perennials next to our woods for a 60’ X 10’ filler plants bed.

Krista

DarcyD Thank you, I’ll look into this option. Not sure we’ll be using any machinery for this job but I hadn’t thought of a sod cutter, so I’ll back-pocket this idea! What fillers are you growing this year in your new bed?

DarcyD

Krista Cress, Cosmos, Zinnias, Grasses, Dara, Amaranth, Celosia, Sunflowers, Orach, White Bishops Lace, Basil, Dill, and probably a few more I’m forgetting. I’m determined not to have to pick weeds for fillers this year 😁

Krista

DarcyD Pretty! I just learned about Dara; I love the cream to chocolate color spread.

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