Grasses can be incorporated individually as ornamental or structural elements when massed together. Native grass is the one that naturally grows out mingling beautifully with native wildflowers. When the grass is well trimmed and short, it is very pleasant to spend time on it with family for picnics or even the kids playing on it.
This is not the case when the grass has overgrown and become old. It is dangerous as it can be a habitat for snakes and scorpions or other animals which are highly poisonous. In addition to that, old grass is unpleasant to the eyes and makes the home look unkempt and unwelcoming. This is an indication that you have to plan to remove the grass.
There are a few questions to consider beforehand. For example; What type of grass do you have? Knowing the type helps in determining the method to be used to remove the old grass. You also have to have a reason as to why you want to remove the grass. Does it make the front yard look dismal? Perhaps you want to make a garden with beautiful flowers? Or make a stoned pathway? As a fresh start?
Personally, recommending using toxic chemicals in your front yard to kill the grass is not at the top of my list, for reasons such as being unable to grow food or flowers in that space again. Also, you would likely still need to remove the leftover roots after the grass has died. The chemicals kill all good nutrients of the soil that may take years to recover.
Keep in mind that it is easy to remove the grass when it is moderately damp to semi-dry. Removing the grass when it is wet or soggy not only makes it heavy but also creates a huge muddy mess. Alternatively, really dry grass falls apart easily hence making it more difficult to lift and remove into solid pieces.
You could opt to remove the grass manually with a shovel and some muscle. Here you have to be ready to do some digging. This option is great for small front yard spaces or one with a lot of curves and obstacles due to its laborious nature. It is also the least expensive.
While manually removing it, it is best you have at least one edge shovel which you will use to easily dig up the grass. Begin by marking the area with a rope or pipe or a string for it to act as a guide. Then start digging from one edge with the shovel. Stick it into the ground then pry up to dig out the grass. Place it aside in a pile for disposing of later on.
Other than digging up with a shovel you could alternatively use a sod cutter. It comes both as a small manual tool and as a reminiscent oversized lawnmower-like machine. You get to pick according to the size of your front yard. The sod cutter is very efficient as it saves you the laborious work of digging up the grass yourself.
The sod cutters also have the ability to roll up the grass nicely. However, remember to be conscious of your underground cables, pipes of water, and sprinklers. You might cut them open and end up with another problem while solving one.
You can also choose to turn over and break up the soil. Exactly how deep you till and how fine you break up the soil depends on what you decide on doing next with your front yard. You can choose to either rent an engine-powered tiller or use a jembe. Tilling will work best if you first slash out as much of the wild grass as possible and then get to turn over the soil while removing the remaining grass.
Start tiling from the outside edge before moving to the inside of the tilled area to avoid compacting the soil with your feet before removing the grass. After that, pick through the soil with a rake to collect the remaining clumps of grass while leaving the soil behind. Rake those pieces into a pile and repeat the procedure until you can no longer find grass clumps in the soil.
If you find the roots of the grass with a lot of soil clods, feel free to hit them up against your rake for the excess soil to fall. After you have finished, spread the grass out to dry and you can choose to either put it in a compost pit or feed it to cows if you domesticate them.
Are you looking for alternatives to commercial herbicides that kill grass? Let’s say a natural grass killer. The first option is pulling out the grass with your hands but this is only possible if the perimeter of your front yard is small. Otherwise, this method will hurt your hands and you will spend too much time in one area.
There is no shortage of chemical options for clearing the old wild grass in your front yard. Fortunately, there is a cheaper and easy natural alternative using ingredients from your kitchen that will get the job done as well. In a spray bottle combine 1 gallon of white vinegar, 1 cup of salt, and a tablespoon of liquid dish soap.
The acetic acid in the vinegar and the salt are good at absorbing moisture from the grass. Literally, they suck the life out of the grass. While the dish soap acts as a surfactant. Hence reducing the surface tension that can cause the concoction to bead on the leaves instead of being absorbed by the plant.
The sun acts as a major agent for the homemade concoction to work. Within a few hours, the results are supposed to be visible by seeing grass turned to brown and withered. This chemical solution however does not get to the roots of the grass. Therefore, you will need to follow up with some tilling to efficiently remove the grassroots in order to ensure that they do not regrow.
The best tool for removing dead grass from your front yard is a rake. Which you will use to scrape the top layer of dead grass. However, If the dead grass is extensive, a power rake might be more helpful. Moreover, being a machine that uses blades it will efficiently remove the debris at the soil level with less manual work.
A great benefit from a good raking is that you get to remove an excess amount of dead grass as well as Moss. It is known to improve water, air, and nutrient circulation in the grass. In addition to that, it encourages the spreading of live grass. After raking, put the dead grass in a pile for easier disposal. This would also save you from doing many trips around the front yard while collecting.
It is natural for plants to go dormant in order to conserve water during dry seasons. However, the brown color should turn green on its own when there is rainfall. A water sprinkler in your front yard can also help in reviving grass. You can also choose to rake the spots of dead grass to loosen the soil and remove the expired blades.
Once you have raked the area, lay down new grass seed over the dead spots. Then moisten the soil regularly to support healthy growth.
If you water your grass on a regular basis but still you notice brown patches in your front yard, seek professional help. The main cause of the brownness could be that the grassroots are no longer able to absorb moisture and nutrients from the soil.
Another easy way to kill grass without using any chemicals is to sheet mulch over it to build new soil. This method is very simple and all you will need is cardboard paper products, which work really well due to their thickness. It takes the longest time to break down hence offering excellent smothering.
Lay the cardboard on top of the grass and cover it with organic matter. Then cover all of that with untreated wood chip mulch from disease-free trees. Moreover, if you want to plant the lawn right away add a layer of compost between the plant matter and the mulch layer so it will grow into the compost. After doing all that, let the soil critters do their thing for they will turn all that stuff into rich soil.
How do you kill weeds forever? Weeds in your front yard can diminish the overall look of your home. Even though many types of weeds can be manually uprooted using a shovel, this method will likely not completely destroy the weeds.
On the other hand, ripping out weeds constantly gets annoying as well as tiresome. And, using chemical herbicides may harm your front yard soil. Especially if used over a long period of time, you may never be able to grow anything again. The good news is, that a common household liquid effectively kills weeds both organically and inexpensively forever.
You will need a lawn mower and undiluted white vinegar. Cut the weeds down as low as possible so that the weed killer can get into the soil and kill the roots. Pour one gallon of undiluted white vinegar into a large cooking pot, and boil it on medium heat.
Once the vinegar is thoroughly boiled, take the pot outside to the location of the weed and pour the heated vinegar over the weed slowly. The heat and the acid will both destroy the weeds. Repeating this process over the next day or two is necessary until the weeds are completely killed.
Some of the warning tips with this method are, to ensure to wear protective gloves, boots, and glasses to prevent you from getting burned by the boiling vinegar. Perform this process carefully by killing weeds on your lawn or the heated vinegar will also kill the grass and other vegetation.
If you are looking to revive your dead grass, you have first to find out why your grass is dying. With the root cause of the problem in mind, you can take the right steps to revive them. Be aware that if the grass is really dead then maybe the grass needs uprooting.
An easy way to test your grass if it is dead or dormant is by pulling on the blades. Pull-on it gently, if it comes out of the ground easily chances are it’s already dead. But if it takes a bit of effort for the clump of grass to come out of the ground. Then the grass is still alive, only just dormant.
This is due to the fact that live grass uses its roots to hold itself in the soil while plants have dead roots.
There is no need to remove the dead grass before landscaping, just dig it on along with the amendments you will use. The dead grass will naturally decompose and add nutrients to the soil. However, you will need to cut the live grass as short as possible and then rake all the grass clippings from the front yard.
Then spray the section to be covered with a general-purpose, nonselective herbicide to kill the weeds and the grass. Leave it alone for about a week to reduce the chances of the grass and weeds quickly growing again while pushing their way up through the landscape.
One downside of landscaping directly over grass is that the surface may become lumpy and uneven. On the flip side of the coin, overlapping the landscape by a foot may help keep the unwanted grass and roots from coming back.
In conclusion, a healthy front yard grass not only looks good but also benefits the environment. They clean the air, trap carbon dioxide, and reduce erosion while improving the soil at the same time. If you choose to uproot the old wild grass in the front yard and turn it into a garden.
You are more likely to eat fresh vegetables or fruits which are safer and with fewer chemicals. Having a garden also increases the amount of time you spend outdoors which is good for your mental health. You get to relieve stress and even boost your immune system. Therefore, be intentional about taking care of your front yard.