GOODBYE LAWN
Lawn removal (read: smothering) has commenced! We put my backyard garden plans into action and after multiple weekends of laying cardboard and hauling in compost, the backyard lawn is no more.
First, we had our trees planted before the lawn removal process begun, so we wouldn’t have to deal with cutting very large holes in the cardboard. Then, we did a modified version of the “no-dig” gardening method by layering cardboard and compost to smother the grass.
Our method was:
Edge new beds to create a semi-refined edge. I will have to go back and re-edge because the cardboard doesn’t cover up the entire edge, but it was good to know where to stop.
Mow lawn.
Lay cardboard. I did one layer thick, cutting the boxes open to cover more surface area. I also overlapped and laid more cardboard on any exposed areas/holes in the cardboard for full coverage.
Soak cardboard with water.
Lay compost. We used mushroom manure in a 2” thick layer. Some people also mulch on top of this but I did not. I’ll mulch the entire area next year with all my other garden beds and as-needed this year. [EDIT: Skipping the mulch was a horrible idea. Make sure you mulch to keep out weeds!!!]
Soak compost with water.
That’s it! Our entire back yard + vegetable garden area took 8 yards of compost and ~10 hours of work. Overall, I really like this method better than removing the grass. The grass started to die within a week or two. The only issue we had were the birds would lift up the cardboard to search for worms (I assume) so there are areas where some of our more heavy-duty lawn weeds are still hanging out. I plan on hand-pulling these weeds and laying mulch down as needed.
If you look on the left side of the yard, you’ll see the cardboard pulled up from the birds. The right side was done a few weeks later and the birds don’t seem to want to pull this cardboard up as much.
As for ongoing maintenance, I’ll just be pulling any weeds that show up and planting new plants as normal. I just move the compost aside, cut a hole in the cardboard, and dig. The internet tells me the cardboard will be mostly gone by next spring and then I’ll be able to re-edge, touch up certain areas, and enjoy!
Also, just as an FYI if you’re going to try this: I was worried that on the sloped areas the compost would slide off the cardboard if we got a heavy enough rain. I’m happy to report the compost never moved off the cardboard.
March 2023 update (8 months later): this worked really well! As long as you put compost AND mulch down, this should work almost perfectly. Our cardboard is pretty much completely gone 8 months later. We’ll just have to go in and re-edge everything this spring and re-mulch, of course. Would recommend!