Cheapest/Easiest Way to Convert Lawn to Garden

We are moving to a large new property about a week before our last frost date, and will want to set up our new veggie garden first thing. It’s got acres of sod and we don’t know much about the soil yet except that it must be relatively decent as the grass, trees, etc are very healthy. Looking to put in a 700-1,000 sq ft garden this year. Since we’re moving, we didn’t start seeds so will be buying a fair amount of transplants and direct sowing everything we can. How would you go about building this garden?

Since we’ll have a ton of cardboard at our disposal from moving, I’m thinking of experimenting with lasagna-style beds. We’ve got lots of chicken and donkey manure as well. Thinking of mowing grass, covering with cardboard, then manure, then straw, then a top layer of compost for planting. My concern about these type of unframed/ mounded beds is erosion, especially with direct sowing seeds.

I’d like to avoid digging up the sod if possible, although we are considering a double dig method where we’d flip the sod onto itself. Also considering some hugel beds, but will we be able to plant in those right away? I admit I love the look of good old-fashioned wood-sided raised beds, but the cost of lumber for a garden this size is prohibitive.

It would depend on what grass is there. In my area, bermuda might necessitate the cardboard. Anything else and i would just till in 4" of manure/compost and plant it, then keep a light grass/hay mulch on it for the season.

If you are going to mow the grass short, only do it the width of your rows, leaving the grass between rows (the width of your lawn mower) makes already covered pathways, keeps more moisture in the soil for your plants to use.

This will also allow you to use your cardboard to simply cover the actual row, or you can simply cut the row grass short and lay on a thick layer of composted manure and plant directly into that.

If you do use the cardboard, you will be punching through it so the plant roots can go deeper into the soil, otherwise they will run across the top of the cardboard (shallow rooting = more watering).

The way we build our raised beds is one at a time, we have had to move to using concrete blocks for a permanent water stop/ diverter setup and to keep the dogs and donkey out of the gardens.
These beds will also keep the moles from traveling into our raised beds. By only purchasing the blocks for a single 2 foot by 30 foot bed we can afford to put in a long lasting garden space and it will be there forever, it is also easy to sit on the blocks for back breaking work in the garden space.
We use short pieces of 2x8 as moveable benches.

The other good method for making beds in lawn areas is to use string to lay out the individual beds then use a spade to cut through the roots of the sod, roll it up and flip it over and lay the green side down in the trench.
This method works well too, but it is a lot more work to get a bed ready to use this way.

I always try to do a no till/ no dig method when ever possible, it keeps all our microbiome in tact and that means I'm planting in a thriving micro world that will help my plants grow fast and strong.

becca said, "Since we’ll have a ton of cardboard at our disposal from moving, I’m thinking of experimenting with lasagna-style beds.

Bryant said, " it keeps all our microbiome in tact and that means I'm planting in a thriving micro world that will help my plants grow fast and strong.

I also like using lots of woodchips since the woodchips bring good microbes to the soil.

Becca Berg wrote:It’s got acres of sod and we don’t know much about the soil yet except that it must be relatively decent as the grass, trees, etc are very healthy. Looking to put in a 700-1,000 sq ft garden this year. Since we’re moving, we didn’t start seeds so will be buying a fair amount of transplants and direct sowing everything we can. How would you go about building this garden?

Sit down and watch this video that someone sent me a link to!
The One-Man Farm:     He Farms 35 Hours a Week By Himself and Makes 6 Figures


His operation is large, however, you may get a LOT from his presentation of HOW he did this.

I converted a empty lot with tiller radish in the spring then  southern peas  first year. Then i smothered with cardboard and covered in horse manure. Second year i planted radish,and  turnips then southern peas and sunflowers mulched with straw. Covered the space with cardboard manure and straw. Now i have beds with southern peas, bush beans, and sweet potatoes. Soon i will be covering beds with cardboard manure and straw again . Next year they will be put into "production".

Sean Brown wrote:I converted a empty lot with tiller radish in the spring then  southern peas  first year. Then i smothered with cardboard and covered in horse manure. Second year i planted radish,and  turnips then southern peas and sunflowers mulched with straw. Covered the space with cardboard manure and straw. Now i have beds with southern peas, bush beans, and sweet potatoes. Soon i will be covering beds with cardboard manure and straw again . Next year they will be put into "production".

Hey Sean: Are these 'beds' a variety of 'raised beds' or are you just doing these plantings in rows?

ALSO, have you heard of Electro-Gardening? It is a method of using copper wires under your beds but linked to tall antennas made with copper windings. IF NOT, check that out!

I had a huge garden that I needed prepped in a hurry...I did research and came across a powered tool called a sod cutter.  I was able to rent one from a local equipment rental place.  They delivered it, and a neighbor ran it for me.  I went behind it and rolled up the sod, loaded it onto a cart attached to my ride on electric mower and hauled to rolls out back to compost. The area done was 150'x25' on average, and the job was completed in a few hours, including clean up.  I was left with beautiful, clear soil and no weeds.  The cutter cuts the roots so that I didn't have to worry about grass growing back as I would have had I just tilled it under.  This was done in early spring, right before I planted my food forest out front and I have not had any problems since.  The garden is in its third year.  Of course I mulched it right after planting with wood chips and I planted strawberries as my groundcover...You don't want to leave it uncovered because even if you get all of the grass out, seeds will blow in and take root if there is bare soil.  I would highly recommend this method.  If you're going to do it this fall, I think it would be a great idea to still add the cardboard, etc.  They are finding that tilling really disturbs the soil structure and brings up weed seeds that you wouldn't want to have sprout.

Becca Berg wrote:We are moving to a large new property about a week before our last frost date, and will want to set up our new veggie garden first thing. It’s got acres of sod and we don’t know much about the soil yet except that it must be relatively decent as the grass, trees, etc are very healthy. Looking to put in a 700-1,000 sq ft garden this year. Since we’re moving, we didn’t start seeds so will be buying a fair amount of transplants and direct sowing everything we can. How would you go about building this garden?

Since we’ll have a ton of cardboard at our disposal from moving, I’m thinking of experimenting with lasagna-style beds. We’ve got lots of chicken and donkey manure as well. Thinking of mowing grass, covering with cardboard, then manure, then straw, then a top layer of compost for planting. My concern about these type of unframed/ mounded beds is erosion, especially with direct sowing seeds.

I’d like to avoid digging up the sod if possible, although we are considering a double dig method where we’d flip the sod onto itself. Also considering some hugel beds, but will we be able to plant in those right away? I admit I love the look of good old-fashioned wood-sided raised beds, but the cost of lumber for a garden this size is prohibitive.

If you’re going to layer instead of mixing I believe the straw should go first, then manure and compost.

I always think there are advantages whether you put the straw on bottom middle or top.  We’re not limited to only one layer.

In my arid climate with intense sun, a layer of straw on top, thin enough to let the light through moderates the conditions of moisture, temperature changes, and light intensity.  Then they grow above the straw layer

I don’t know how big your place is, but doing it gradually will give you a chance to develop the system that suits your conditions.  And saves you from trying to do it all in one season.