Removing your lawn from time to time can be beneficial to your landscape. Doing this will pave the way to things you want to improve if you wish to dig a garden pond, put up cables for garden lights, mount fences, or just anything for your yard installation. It can be tedious, yes, but it’s necessary to revamp your landscape. Fret not because here is a guide to different ways on how you can do it.
Manual removal
Manual removal, although laborious, is the fastest way to remove lawn for your yard installation. The best tool is a sod cutter to cut your lawn in sections that you will manage. Using the sod cutter or spade, slice the grass into sections as large as you can move. Position the end of the sod cutter to the point where you intend to cut. Make sure that the tool is standing vertical, away from your body. With the help of your foot, push it down to make sure the sod cutter dug into your lawn. Once you’re done with the vertical slices, put the blade at the border of your lawn. Move the sod cutter away from you to force your lawn to tilt up and roll the strips.
Remember that manual removal may not always work. It’s not optimal for your perennial lawn grass. Merely removing the sod on this kind of grass guarantees that it will regrow. Their roots go down several feet. Just an inch of the root growing back will ensure that all of them will soon follow. To get rid of your perennial grass, you may opt for slower methods like solarization or herbicide.
Herbicide for Yard Installation
Another quick way of removing lawns is through the use of herbicides. There are a lot of herbicides you can choose from. Despite its efficiency, using herbicide comes with its risk, eventually ending up in your water supply. It will prove to be more dangerous to your landscape since all of your plants will be affected. For owners who have a small lawn area, this may be optimal for their yard installation.
Sheet composting
This method consists of depriving the lawn of the nutrients that it needs to grow. All you need are newspapers or cardboard. Start by cutting your lawn as short as possible. Then saturate your grass with water. It will push out the air and oxygen. Proceed to cover the entire area with a “blanket” made from newspapers or cardboard. Make sure that no sunlight gets through the paper. Once covered and deprived of oxygen, the lawn will start breaking down. It will decompose not just the leaves but the roots as well. You can put mulch over the now-dead grass. After this, you can scatter seeds in the compost. Or, if you want to plant individual plants, you can cut holes in the paper. Another method is waiting for the paper to decompose before digging plant holes for your new plants.
Sheet composting repurposes your lawn by the addition of organic matter into your soil. This method is optimal to jumpstart your yard installation. It only requires minimal effort. However, for this to work, a fairly long time is needed.
Yard Installation with Solarization
This method is best for those who want to remove their lawn for their yard installation and living in a high-temperature area. This method involves utilizing the sun to kill your lawn. First, you have to cut the grass as short as possible. Cover the area you wish to remove with sturdy plastic sheets. You can hold it in place using rocks or metal stakes. Make sure that when you cover, there are no holes. The sun’s energy is a trap in the soil with the help of the sheets. You may leave them for up to two months until the grass is dead.
This method also ensures the death of some insects and plant diseases. Solarization may take a long time before it works and may also require a lot of plastic sheets. One way to limit your use of plastic is to do small sections at a time. You can reuse plastic in different locations. And the good thing is, it does not need much labor and has a minimal environmental impact.
If you need to improve your landscape, yard installation is a must. However, you have to remove your lawn. You need not contact professional landscapers to do this. With some materials and some techniques that we provided, you can revamp your yard quickly.
