Converting a lawn into gardening space is a great way to make optimal use of your landscape area. Some people have a large lawn area but small garden space. If you want to plant more flowers or vegetables in your garden, you can convert your lawn into gardening space in many ways.
Before starting the process, you need to decide how much area of your lawn you want to convert into a garden. You can choose a shady or sunny area depending on the type of plants you want in your garden. Some plants grow well in the sunlight, while others grow best in shady areas. Let us explore some of the best methods to turn a lawn into a garden.
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Remove the grass from the lawn.
The conventional method of removing the grass from your lawn is to use a shovel or dig the ground. Before removing the grass, make sure that the soil is neither too wet nor too dry. If the soil in your lawn is too dry, water your lawn with a sprinkler system. If you don’t have a sprinkler irrigation system, you can sprinkle some water with your garden hose so that the soil absorbs some moisture.
Doing so will make it easy to remove the grass with roots. Do not make the soil too wet as it will stick to the roots of the grass and makes the removal process difficult. After removing the grass, you need to remove its roots from the soil using a rake tool. Any roots left in the soil will promote the growth of weeds that in turn, increases the amount of maintenance. After removing all the roots from the soil, you need to level it so that you can use it to create flower beds or garden beds.
Create raised beds for your garden.
Raised beds are good for growing flowers, herbs and vegetables. You can convert your lawn into a raised bed garden very easily using some tools. If you want to plant flowers or vegetables in your garden, it is best to plant them on raised garden beds. Landscaping experts recommend using landscaping fabric to create garden beds.
You need to place the landscaping fabric on the ground where you want to create raised beds. Another material you can use is the cardboard if you don’t want to use landscaping fabric. Both these materials will smother the weeds and grass and prevent them from growing in the soil.
Use herbicides.
If you have less time and want to create a garden quickly, you can use a grass killer herbicide to kill your lawn grass. Spray a good quality grass killer on your lawn grass and wait for a few days for the grass to die. Then you can remove it with a shovel or spade tool. The time taken by the grass to die will depend on the type of herbicide you use in your lawn.
Do not use mulch over a lawn until the process is completed as the grass and weeds can grow through the mulch. Once the lawn grass becomes dead, you can use a lawnmower to shorten the grass to make it easy to remove. Once you remove the grass completely, you can use topsoil, compost, or mulch to create your garden.
Sod tilling and cutting.
Removing the sod by hand by cutting it with a shovel or another sharp tool is the conventional way of turning a lawn into a garden. Also, this is one of the fastest methods to get the job done. Cut the sod into strips using a sod cutter tool. Then roll the strips up and turn them over to remove them.
After removing the sod, you can cover the exposed soil with multiple newspaper sheets. You need to use at least 8 to 10 newspaper sheets to create a thick layer of paper. Then put a 4 to 6-inch thick layer of compost followed by a 3 to 4 inches thick layer of mulch. The compost and mulch will enrich the soil and prevent the growth of grass and weeds. Layering the lawn grass with newspapers compost and mulch is also known as sheet mulching.
Lasagna Gardening.
Lasagna Gardening is a variation of sheet mulching full stop the first two steps in lasagna gardening aid the same as sheet mulching. The first two layers are made of newspaper and compost, but the last layer is made of other materials like kitchen scraps, yard waste, unfinished compost or grass clippings.
All these layers deteriorate slowly to create a nutrient-rich and well-drained medium for your plants. Experts suggest starting layering with lasagna gardening in the fall so that the layers get sufficient time to decompose to create fertile soil for plants.
If you have shrubs in your lawn, you can also remove them as a part of the land clearing process. Removing the shrubs or trees that you don’t want in your garden will create sufficient space for creating flower beds and your favourite plants.
In Lasagna Gardening the layers take time to decompose. Therefore if you are already late to plant your garden, you can use the sod tilling method. The sod tilling method helps you to prepare the garden within a few days, and you can put your favourite plants within a week.
Henshaw tree services offer a variety of tree services in Sydney. They offer tree pruning, dead wooding, stump grinding, tree removal, and land clearing services in Blacktown. If you are located in or around Blacktown, you can hire them for tree services.
Final words
These are some methods to convert a lawn into a garden. Creating garden beds is best if you want to plant flowers or vegetables. You can also create a garden by simply removing the grass and planting your favourite plants without creating flower beds. After preparing the space and soil for your garden, you need to choose the right plants. Choose the plants that are best according to the weather and climate of your location.
