How do we kill grass?

Question

We want to lay gravel around the base of the house about three feet out from the house and then be able later to plant some boxwoods around the house.

Answer 1

Im a professional.

Use Round up or glyphosate only. It doesnt hang around in the soil and only affects the plant.

If you use the wrong product, you will have a real ahrd time with the newer plantings.

Round -Up pro only lasts less than 7 days in the plant.

Some great professional weed and grass killing infor here

http://www.doyourownlawncare.wordpress.com

Click the "Manage your weeds the professional way" post.

Also check out the 12 steps to lawn renovation success post too.It contains info about spraying grass with round up

Good Luck

Answer 2

Don't try to kill the grass first. If you put down salt or broad-spectrum weed-killer, you run the risk of being unable to grow anything else in that bed for a long time. Here's what you need to do:

1. Mark out the bed you'd like to have
2. Cut the sod with a straight-edged, sharpened spade, all along the line you've marked. You can put in plastic edging at this point to help prevent the grass from creeping back into the bed.
3. Roll back the sod. You'll need a boxcutter, a sharp hand spade, or another implement to help cut the roots.
4. Till the soil with a shovel or a roto-tiller. We have a small tiller that attaches to a gas-powered trimmer and it works GREAT!! A Ryobi, I believe.
5. Make sure the soil is sloped slightly AWAY from the house to avoid drainage issues.
6. Lay down black plastic and then the gravel you'd like to use.

Good luck!

Answer 3

Use glyposate weed killer such as Roundup. Doesn't stay in the soil and you can safely work it later. Farmers use it for cropping all the time. If you want to plant boxwoods improve soil now with manures, organic matter to get the bed ready. Plant the plants first, once you lay the gravel it will be hard to improve the soil which is the most important thing for quick and healthy plant growth and lay the gravel later.

Answer 4

There are several good choices listed here but we really need to know what time of year you plan on doing the work. As stated a grass killer (post emergent herbicide) like "Roundup" or many numerous other store brands will work the quickest but only in warm weather. You can even spray vinegar on the grass and it will kill it but it has to be warm outside. Most herbicides work best when nighttime temps are above 70 degrees. Another method is to cut off the light source to the grass by laying black pastic, landscape fabric, newspaper, or anything else that will bock the light from the grass on top of it. This method does take longer to kill off the grass. Either one of these methods will not harm the soil so that you may plant anything afterwards. You do not want to use salt, gasoline, or anything else caustic because it will poison the soil and nothing will grow afterwards. Once your grass is dead you need to apply some landscape cloth on the ground before putting your rocks in to prevent weed growth in your new bed.
good luck
doc

Answer 5

The right way if you can wait:
Put a few layers of newspaper on top of the area (don't use the color insert). Then add plenty fo mulch on top (3 inches is enough). Add water if no rain to make sure it is moist. Then just wait. Let the bacteria and nature do their work. It will take a couple months. If you start now, by spring you should have the area ready for your flower bed.

Answer 6

Think a lot of salt would do it? Rock salt to saturate the grass. Or have a female dog do major pottying on it.

Another reader suggested using 32 oz of vinegar with 1/4 cup of Dawn Dish Soap added to it. Spray it on the grass, and that should do it.

Good luck with it.

Answer 7

You can go and buy a dedicated grass killer to spray on. You can spray Round-Up on the area for a scortch earth policy. You can dig the grass up by the roots. You can cover the area with black plastic and leave for a year and let the grass die naturally.

Answer 8

weedx,and lay down black liner over to stop grass from growing back,and thru gravel

Answer 9

round up

Answer 10

Just do like I do -- park your truck on it till it dies.