Hi once again from the Algarve, 26'C
(79'F) and blue sky.
I'm a great believer in using Round Up
(glyphosate) weed killer for this. One spray will kill off 90% of the grass
and weeds and a second spot treatment some time later will kill off any
patches you missed and the more resitant weeds - usually those with tap
roots. To be honest a few weeds will survive even the second treatment and
these I would dig out by hand.
Using Round Up does not disturb the soil
structure or bring up weed seeds to the surface. Most times when I've
treated a lawn like this I have then covered with a membrane and gravel and
planted in holes through the membrane. It is important to remember that
often lawns are laid over very shallow soils (in new houses often over
builders rubble). When planting through a membrane I have just improved the
soil at the planting point and not worried about the soil
elsewhere.
I like roundup - it is very safe, not too
expensive and is neutralised when in contact with soil. One "organic" method
I've tried is to just cover the lawn with black plastic or old carpet
weighed down and held in place with rocks. It kinda works, but you have to
leave it down for quite a while (months) and it is very unsightly. Amazingly
quite a few weeds will survive for months without light and they still have
to be dealt with when you remove the cover.
Just digging over the lawn is too much like
hard work to me and you have to deal with weeds for months to come -
especially from root sections that you have broken up.
Until last year I lived in the West of Ireland,
and there we have a great "organic" way of removing a lawn based on the
traditional way of growing potatoes on grass pasture. I don't think it would
work very well in a dry mediterranean climate but you may be interested. It
is called the "lazy-bed" method - because you dont have too much digging to
do. The pasture or Lawn is divided into a series of parallel beds each say 1
metre (3 feet) wide. In Ireland the beds vary quite a bit in width (up to
8feet )depending on the site, soil depth, soiltype, drainage etc. The
beds are separated by about 40 - 60 cm (18'' - 2'). Potatoes are planted
directly on the grass ( or on seaweed or manure spread thinly over the
grass).Then the space between the beds is dug out as a trench with the sods
of grass removed and placed grass side down over the lazy bed covering the
bed and the potatoes. The trench is dug out until the bed is completely
covered with soil. It is a matter of pride to produce neat beds with a flat
surface and sharp clean sides - all done with just a spade. In time the
potatoes come up through the sods and are then earthed up with more
soil from the trench. The potatoes quickly shade out any weeds, you do
get some growing along the sides of the trenches but they are easily
removed. It is a great way to grow potatoes and a great way to "clean the
soil". You will quite often see it used in front of a new house to
clean up the weeds or remove a lawn before starting a garden. OK it takes a
growing season to work, but you do get a crop of spuds.
I assumed that I would find pictures of
lazybeds on the web, but there really arent any good ones. I assumed I
would have taken photos of some of the ones I've made over the years... but
apparently not. The best I can do is direct you to the following web
site:
It describes how to make them and there are
diagrams...BUT...the photos of the final bed show a desparately messy bed -
no self-respecting farmer in the West of Ireland would have one looking like
this - as I said the top and sides of the beds should be flat and
smooth.
Any way must go lunch is ready - fresh baked
tuna and stir fried vegetables from the garden.
Yours with an appetite
BrianO
