I'm expanding some beds so now I've got mounds of grass and weeds that has all the roots still attached. Very thick grass mats. What to do with them? Can I put them in the composter or will they start growing in there? I feel like it would take forever to break down in the composter but maybe I am wrong? Can I throw them in as is? Or maybe run over them with the lawn mower first? Thanks, all.
Daisy, we had the same thing when we started our flower beds here. I simply cut the sod into as small pieces as I could (the smallest about a foot square) with a spade and put them on the compost pile upside down with the roots exposed. They didn't grow, and decomposed fairly quickly (I'd guess within three months.) Our compost bins are open-sided; on-the-ground; in full sun; which may make a difference.
Thanks MG. That's helpful to know. I've got a tumbler type composter and another black bin and then a big pile of stuff that loosely resembles a compost pile. I've been putting the grass there. Maybe I'll put a little here and a little there and see what happens. Maybe I'll learn something.
The way I am going to mention is more labor, but has worked well for me over the years. I pull/cut the sod and set it aside. Then I double dig (dig out the section of dirt about a shovel's depth). I then place the sod upside down into the dug area and cover with dirt from the next little area ( sod from second area is set aside for final hole area) the benefit of double digging is the immediate enrichment of the soil. You also never have to mess with the sod again and plant immediately. If you aren't in a hurry when creating new gardening areas I now swear by using cardboard. It truly smothers most all weeds and breaks down in a timely fashion creating a perfect weed free bed. I have used card board for winter cover the last two winters and now only have to weed the garden paths. A real labor saver.
Find somewhere out of the way and stack the turves, grass to grass and soil to soil. Cover with black plastic and in about 12 months you have a beautiful stack of great top soil. The other methods are great if your grass is just pure grass. If there are any dandelions or couch grass in it then burying them will not stop them regrowing, nor will putting them in a compost bin.
Thanks for the ideas. Palustris, I think your suggestion is the way to go because there are weeds, onions, and that creeping kind of grass mixed in. I was thinking about putting it all in a black garbage bag. Jewell, how and when do you use the cardboard? That sounds like an idea I can use in another area. Thank you, all.
I've used it both in the summer and fall. It isn't real pretty so if you have some nice looking mulch all the better to cover it up. It decomposes nicely and smothers plants under it. If it has not decomposed enough when I want to plant I just cut holes where I am sticking the plants. I created a really large bed and a smaller bed using it and ivy clippings/mulch. Laid it down in July/August and put a lot of "left-over" plants in the beds the following spring. I was looking at some cardboard I laid last fall on one bed and deciding whether or not to pull it, but some of the buttercups hadn't quite extinguished themselves yet. I will wait until June to plant. Considering the buttercups were thick in the paths I think it was a real success. The main thing is to not turn the soil. When you do it expose weed seeds. I have also used carboard under bark I lay down for paths.
Thank you, Jewell, OK, I see how you use the cardboard. I put down soaked newspaper in a few areas with mulch on top but just as a weed barrier in beds. With the cardboard, how long, generally speaking does it take for the weeds underneath to die off enough to plant in there? You just put the cardboard right on top of say, turf? This may change my life! LOL!
The cardboard I laid down in the fall is about gone. Two to three seasons (fall/winter or summer/fall/winter) does it in our climate on a weedy bed. With sod I would use multiple layers of cardboard and then a mulch on top. It might take longer depending on heat, moisture, etc. During the summer I lay the soaker hoses on my garden beds and put cardboard over them. Then cardboard goes around the plants. You can't tell the cardboard is there with the mature plants covering up the cardboard. In the fall when I clean the spent vegie vines I lay cardboard over the top of the beds as I get it and put the spent vines over the top of the cardboard. The last bed I covered this winter was in December. I had to poke through the cardboard to plant dalhia bulbs last week. In the other beds the cardboard is rotted and tissue thin. There were lots of worms just under the cardboard. On the 50 foot bed pictured on http://www.gardenstew.com/about21762.html I started it in August of 2009 and started planting the following spring and summer (2010). The trick is not to move the cardboard and mulch. Hopefully it will be decayed enough to just plant through it. The less you disturb the soil the fewer the weeds. That same bed has been easy to expand since the cardboard/bark I use as mulch for the paths deteriorates. I went along and planted strawberries along the outer edge/pathway of the bed (extending the bed a foot or more) and moved my stick boundary out accordingly. The edgings help to keep the dogs out of the beds if I provide clean paths. I had also used cardboard on the pathways before putting bark over the top. That seemed to have prepared the soil for the strawberries nicely. One of the reasons I use cardboard for the paths is that it is free. Bark mulch I have to pay for and with the cardboard I don't have to use nearly as much to accomplish the same result. The cardboard also makes my other "free" mulch go farther.
I have the onion and creepy grass problem too. I create a neat pile in my concrete driveway. being in SC it gets very hot and dries it out within 24 hours. then i step on the onions and crush them. I also have 6 chickens in a pen and i throw a lot of the weeds in with them. weeds are eaten in a matter of hours.
So what about this report that the cardboard these days contains toxic chemicals from the inks used on coloured paper which is recycled into cardboard? Apparently the chemicals have been found to leak out of packaging into foodstuffs.
For the most part, I shouldn't worry about this. Most ink used these days is soy based. Glossy is another story though. A double layer of corrugated, covered with compost, cured or not, or even fresh stall muckings will be good to plant through in 60 days. Zone/climate dependant of course. The only difficulties I have experienced are with bermuda grass (surely a demon from hades) and english ivy(a close relative I'm sure). Tempted me to use RoundUp it did, I won in the end.
Fatbaldguy, I have a horse now, and am putting her fertilizer in my compost. How soon can I use it in my garden? I wouldnt mind adding it to the carboard mulch I am working on. I am trying to get it to heat up my compost to make it decompose quicker. For some reason, my compost heap seems not to heat up. The 'right' ingredients are not all on hand at the right times. In the fall, I have loads of brown stuff, and in the spring, the green stuff... Ne'er the two shall mix it seems.
Manures need to compost for about 90 days, depending upon the heat of the pile, before being used as a mulch. Medicines, feed through fly controls, and any possible disease pathogens need at least that much time to become inert or be reduced to their molecular components. As for cold compost or hot compost....it doesn't really matter, it's all good stuff. Cold is no labor and takes about a year. Hot is labor intensive, and can take as little as 30 days. Save your kitchen scraps for that compost pile too. FBG
Thanks FBG. I was wondering about the manure thing since I have not used it before. I do save all of my kitchen scraps for either the compost bins or my chickens. I use the 'tea' from their drinking water on my flowers. I have 5 hens and an ornery rooster.
