Removing Lawn

I recently saw my neighbor up the street removing sod. I enjoy seeing people removing lawn, hopefully to turn into more interesting gardens. We are in the process of removing the lawn in our own front yard.There are several methods to get rid of lawn, and I’ll briefly explain each one.

1)Dig out by hand: Get a good shovel and dig.
Advantages: Can remove lawn from garden and be ready to re-plant in a few hours. Lowers the grade of the soil, which is usually desirable. No special equipment needed.
Disadvantage: Grass can regrow from deeper roots. It is the most labor intensive,. Sod is often hard to dispose of as many green wastes and dumpsters won’t take it. It also take the top few inches of soil away which is often the richest part of the soil, along with the organic matter of the grass.
Best For: Small areas wanted for immediate re-planting

2)Sod cutter: This is the method my neighbor was using. Just rent a sod cutter, which will cut the sod an inch or more below the soil. It can than be rolled and hauled away.
Advantages: Quicker than digging by hand. Other advantages the same as digging by hand.
Disadvantage: Many are the same as digging it out by hand. It is less labor intensive, but has the added the cost and availability of renting a sod cutter.
Best For: Large area wanted for immediate re-planting

3)Tilling: Use a heavy duty tiller to till lawn under.
Advantages: Quick method, retains top layer of soil and the organic matter of the grass.
Disadvantages: Getting the equipment if not available. Least effective method to kill the grass, might see a lot of regrowth.
Best For: Use with other methods (i.e. after sheet mulching)

4)Herbicide: Spray lawn with a non-selective herbicide like glyphosate.
Advantages: Least labor involved. Maintains top layer of soil. Can result in the least amount of lawn regrowth.
Disadvantages: Use of chemicals might not be desirable. Lawn will often need be sprayed multiple times, and will take up to a month to die out if using glyphosate (Round-up). Also glyphosate will not be effective unless the lawn is actively growing, so often ineffective in the summer months on cool season grass, and the fall/spring months on warm seasons grass when the grass tends to go dormant. Can be unattractive.
Best For: Effective die back without lots of effort

5)Sheet mulching: Layer a layer of corrugated cardboard or thick newspaper and top with compost, wood chips, or other mulch.
Advantages: Maintains top layer of soil and will add additional organic matter. Not labor intensive. Can look attractive immediately.
Disadvantages: Will take three or more months until grass is dead and area is ready for planting. The use of cardboard is controversial and will not help with soil health.
Best For: Large or small areas that are do not need to be immediately replanting.

6)Neglect: Do not water or otherwise care of lawn, and mow to very short height.
Advantage: No labor required. Can be effective in areas with little rainfall and high maintenance lawn.
Disadvantages: Takes time for grass to die, and in the meanwhile looks awful. Often not very effective.

I often use a combination of methods, for instance I’ve sprayed followed by sheet mulching followed by tilling. My favorite method is sheet mulching, because not only does it get rid of the lawn but it also can improve the soil at the same time.

In our front yard, I started out by neglecting it. We didn’t water it and it went brown pretty quickly. Where we walked frequently, the grass died back rather quickly. It didn’t look that great though, nor was it killing off all the lawn. We put down some sheet mulch. First I mowed it at my lowest mower height. We dug out a small strip on the edges so the bark mulch wouldn’t spill over onto the surrounding pathways. It was sheet mulched with a layer of cardboard and wood chips. Looked pretty good as soon as we were done, and it’s been there a little over a month. The cardboard is taking a while to break down because it is summer: it needs more moisture to disintegrate. I don’t think we’ll be planting too heavily until the spring, and by then I expect the cardboard to be gone (along with the lawn). It is also possible to cut holes in the cardboard to plant, although grass can also re-grow through the holes if it isn’t dead yet.