How To Rip Up Your Lawn Without Pulling A Muscle

This is the third story in a series on green gardening and pest control.

As gardeners begin to experience the joys of spring growth, one response is to stare at the parking strip, empty but for some scrappy grasses, and think "Aha, if that mess were gone, what a garden I could plant!"

Removing an existing stand of grass is a chore akin to stripping wallpaper or knocking out walls before insulating an old house. It's controlled destruction, and it requires determination, organization, and demonic energy. Staying focused on the final product helps to reduce the inevitable monotony.

With a small area of lawn to remove, it's possible to attack with a mattock and shovel, chopping, digging and pulling. Turf is easier to remove in chunks if it's not dried out; work after a rain or water well a few days before starting. Chop, lift chunks, shake most of the dirt free. Go deep to get perennial weed roots (like dandelions.) Remove as much of the turf and roots as possible.

Bitter experience forces me to confess that I tried flipping chunks over and burying them under a thick leaf mulch, on the hopeful belief that they would disintegrate handily. In defiance of gravity, grass clumps struggled to the surface and I've had to resort to digging and pulling again.

For a large area, rent a sod-cutter or rototiller. Sod-cutters peel off about a 12-inch section of grass. Expect to pay about $40 for 3 hours or $70 a day for rental.

Ciscoe Morris, grounds manager for Seattle University, insists from personal experience that sod gets very heavy. He advises against trying to move a cut strip longer than about 8 feet. The wetter it is, the heavier it is (remember, you want it to be slightly damp.) The weight increases as the project wears on. Enlisting the help of a body-building relative or friend makes sense.

Turn sod into compost

To turn your grass and weed residue into useful compost, pick a secluded area of the yard and start a pile. Stack the sod or chunks ROOT SIDE UP. Water between the layers. Though it's certainly not necessary, some people sprinkle on leftover nitrogen-containing lawn fertilizer about every eight inches (vertical depth) to accelerate the process a bit. But don't use any fertilizers containing herbicides.

Cover the pile completely with black plastic or other opaque material, holding it down at the edges and on top with rocks or bricks. Excluding light is important. Complete breakdown will take at least a year, possibly two. No turning is necessary. The result is a black, crumbly, and valuable soil amendment.

Black plastic sheets can also be used to kill out an unwanted lawn area. Or you could spread out a couple of layers of wet newspaper covered with compost, leaves, or sawdust. Some people use cardboard or old carpet. Water the area well before covering, and secure the edges of the covering. This method is essentially labor-free, but slow. Check in about a year.

After removing plastic or other covering, cultivate or rototill the area. Newspaper may have disintegrated enough to be rototilled in. This process keeps all the useful organic matter in the soil, but is messy and requires patience. The area looks better if a mulch is spread across the plastic, but there's still a work-in-progress aspect to it.

Persistence pays off

For the first two or three years of any newly-created planting area, thousands of weed seeds previously dormant in the ground will sprout, as will the roots of any perennial weeds left in the ground.

Once the area is cleared of turf, keep after the residual weeds. Allowing seedlings to sprout and then cultivating very lightly with a scuffle hoe will take care of the first generation of weed seeds.

Weed seeds can wait for decades and cultivation brings them to the surface into ideal growing conditions. Keep at it, and don't be surprised if fragments of grasses and weeds reappear for the first couple of years.

Use herbicides with caution

It's also possible to kill turf with herbicides but know from the start that it is not faster and there are hazards associated with these chemicals. The most common type used for this is glyphosate (sold as Round-Up and in other trade names.) Glyphosate works only on actively growing green plants, so it's ineffective if the area is completely dried out (like a parking strip in late summer), or dormant in winter time. The chemical must be absorbed by plant leaves to work well.

Glyphosate loses its herbicidal activity when in direct contact with soil, and it's generally considered to have relatively low toxicity to mammals. The area can be planted within about 4 to 6 weeks. Using this herbicide is not faster than manual removal, which while labor-intensive results in a workable patch of ground faster. Anyone using glyphosate should be certain not to get any of it on desirable plants; this is a non-selective herbicide and it will kill or damage any plant contacted by it.

Read and follow all label directions, especially those concerning mixing and protective equipment. The surfactant in many formulations of glyphosate, a chemical added to help it cling to leaf surfaces, can result in eye and skin irritation if splashed. Goggles, gloves, and protective clothing are recommended, including headgear.

For information on disposal of pesticide containers or unused pesticides, contact your local King County Hazards line at 296-4692. Outside of King County, check with local government services.

Mary Robson is the WSU/King County Cooperative Extension Area Horticulture Agent.

Garden tour

The 1995 Green Gardening tour is scheduled for July 8-9. To receive a free map call 547-7561.