Are you planning to convert your lawn into a garden? Nowadays, there are so many ways you can turn your lawn into an attractive gardening space.
The majority of individuals often convert their lawns into gardens to increase the functionality of their yard.
Find a suitable location for your garden
The first thing to do when you want to turn your lawn into a garden is find a suitable location for your garden. The location you choose for your garden should be able to receive at least six to eight hours of sunlight.
This applies if you plan to grow regular crops. If you choose to grow shade plants, select a shady spot. Your location should also be free from underground obstacles and cables. Additionally, ensure that you choose an area with fertile soil.
Remove the lawn grass to create a garden bed
Once you have found a suitable spot for your garden, it’s now time to get your hands dirty. Converting your lawn into a garden requires you to remove grass from the lawn first.
The most common technique used to do this is to pull grass from the garden. Pulling out grass from your line undoubtedly consumes time and effort. Remove grass from the area you plan to use only.
You can use digging equipment to remove the grass. This step is usually very delicate. If you fail to remove the grass around the area effectively, you would have to deal with weeds in your garden.
A shovel is good equipment for digging in such a scenario. However, you have to ensure that the shovel is light and sharp for more efficiency. Also, consider using a sod cutter to cut the sod.
After cutting the sod, remove it from the ground. Lift it and let the excess soil fall back onto the ground. You can dispose of the sod or plant it in another area of your yard if you have space.
If you plan to dispose the sod, cover it with cardboard or plastic to prevent it from transferring weeds into the garden. After removing the sod, prep the soil. Do this by adding fresh compost to the soil.
Doing this replenishes all the lost nutrients in the soil. You can always make your compost in a bin at home using kitchen waste and manure. Alternatively, you can always buy compost from your local garden store.
When the soil is ready, plant your desired crops in the area and allow them to grow. Harvest when ready.
Turning a lawn into a raised garden bed
Consider creating a raised garden bed if you don’t want to go through the hustle of removing grass to turn your lawn into a garden. Raised garden beds are increasingly becoming popular among most people.
They are ideal for growing almost all kinds of crops. Another primary advantage of raised gardens is that they are perfect for beginners. So, how do you turn a lawn into a raised garden space?
The first thing to do is to map out the area you plan to create the garden. Use landscape fabric to mark out the area where you plan to create your raised garden bed. Why landscape fabric?
Landscape fabric will choke weeds and grass and kill them eventually. Thus, you need not use any manual method to remove grass from the lawn. During this process, get rid of any weeds you spot above the fabric.
After leaving the landscape fabric for some time on the lawn, fill the area with high-quality soil. Ensure you use fertile soil with compost. Ensure you fill the raised garden bed with a lot of soil. Then, leave the raised garden bed for a few days. This allows the soil to settle onto the surface. After the soil settles, you can start planting the crops of your choice. Below are some guidelines to follow if you wish to convert your lawn into a raised garden bed.
- Ensure that you create a raised garden bed that is at least eight inches deep. Remember, plants need ample space underneath the soil to form a robust root system. If your raised garden bed is too shallow, there would be a crowding of plants. In turn, your plants won’t be able to grow to full maturity.
- Gardening experts always recommend using cedar for your raised garden bed. Needless to say, there are many wood options like pine you can use. But cedar is the best. It will promote the healthy growth of plants.
- It would be best if you kept your raised garden bed firm at all times. Luckily, you can use corner brackets to hold the garden bed steady.
- Before turning your lawn into a raised garden bed, it is always essential to conduct thorough research. Consult a gardening professional on the best procedure to use. Also, look up all the information you need online. This way, it will be much easier to go about the process.
Lasagna Method to Convert Lawn to Gardening Space
You can also turn your lawn into a garden using the lasagna technique. The lasagna technique consumes a lot of time but is relatively simple. All you have to do is layer the lawn with cardboard and grass clippings.
The layering is done with the aim of killing the grass. The grass clippings, cardboard, and leaves suffocate the grass and also break down to improve the quality of the soil.
Also known as sheet mulching, this technique takes a lot of time since you have to wait for all the grass in the lawn to die. Not to mention, you will still have weeds growing through the cardboard.
So, you’ll spend a lot of time trying to remove all the existing grass on the lawn. However, once the lawn is clear from grass, you can start planting. Ensure the soil is in good condition first.
Add compost to make it more accommodating for plants. If you choose to use this method, keep checking the progress from time to time when you leave the lawn covered with cardboard and grass clippings.
Prepping the soil
After switching up your lawn into a garden, it is essential to prep your soil before planting. Additionally, check whether the soil is in good condition before you start planting.
It would be best to test for soil pH and nutritional content. Doing this helps you know the proper nutrients that your soil needs at the moment.
Adding broken down and ready to use leaf mold pile or compost is also a great way to improve moisture retention and fertility.
Therefore, mix your soil with compost before you start planting. Moreover, do not forget to get rid of all unwanted plants in the new garden area.
The final takeaway
As seen in this article, there are many ways of turning your lawn into a garden space. The technique you choose usually depends on your requirements.
Nonetheless, if you are a beginner, consider turning your lawn into a raised garden bed. After converting your lawn into the garden, choose the right crops to grow.
More often than not, the crops you choose are determined by the climatic conditions of your area.