Well, if it isn't one thing it's another, isn't it? I'm hoping to set up beds in the back yard and want to get rid of the St. Augustine back there. Does anyone know a reasonably good method that does not involve herbicides and will not put me on the list for back surgery to get rid of it? Will tilling it kill it, or will it just make it grow back stronger? I have about 60 square yards covered with landscape fabric, hoping it will smother it and it will be easy to pull up. Any thoughts would be most welcome!
getting rid of st. augustine
Cardboard - or newspapers will go back into the soil and kill out the grass with no problem.
And be pretty to boot! LOL. Thanks -- that's a great idea, and just having moved, I have PLENTY of cardboard on hand, plus I get a newspaper every day they remember to deliver it. Good thinking! I'll start it up this evening.
no problem - just remember to and mulch on top and it looks great!
Oh I wish I had your problem. I have an area about the same size with nice thick bermuda that needs to be removed. St. Augustine would be so much easier! And I want it gone now. I don't want to wait a year for smothering to work.
Same here sweezel - same here... would love to have that grass to kill but nope a huge yard full of Bermuda...
Sweezel, I don't think it would take a year to killl the bermuda. I had some in Tulsa that I wanted gone, I put several layers of newspaper, then mulched and it died pretty quick, it couldn't handle the dense shade lol.
Well, if it makes you feel any better, the prior owner of this house did NO yard work at all, so it's not nice pure St. A -- it's weedy St. A. But this has me all charged up, especially since I can probably cover the whole thing with cardboard tonight. And I'll tell you -- fireants LIKE being under landscape fabric. I think it makes them hungrier. Little b@$(@^&s.
It did not just go into temporary dormancy and come back with a vengence from the roots? That is one thing I am worried about.
If you run out of cardboard--in my 'scrounging' for supplies I've found bars/restaurants have the best, thickest cardboard. Beer requires a sturdy box for delivery.
Debbie
It was under a Tulip tree that was limbed up about 10'. I coulnd't till so I just dug little holes for my plants and left the paper and mulch, and then mixed in some compost. The grass never revived. You could try a section first to see.
You are right about that Debbie,
We toss several a day; potato chip boxes, beer boxes, produce boxes and meat boxes. Usually the meat boxes are dry since the patties are in a large plastic bag, so all would work for a ground cover.
Whan we bought this house in '87, the front beds were done with several layers of newspaper, topsoil, and pine bark mulch. Then the hollys, etc. were planted in/on that. Took a couple of years before all of the newspaper broke down, but the beds have NEVER had any grass - Bermuda nor St.Augustine.
Nutgrass still manages to come up thru newspapers for me sometimes...but not cardboard. I still have a few small 'problem areas' under newspapers. lol
ooooohhhhhh nutgrass!
My daughter works at a local pub, so I should have a good supply even if my packing boxes run out. Thanks for the reminder. I put down some boxes yesterday and wet them really well. Hopefully I can get out this weekend and get some mulch. I hate to have to buy it, but there are so few trees in this development there's no choice. I guess I could go rake a park...
One of the beds where I'm trying to rid of SA is bordered by a NW wall and a SW wall. I've put in roses (yes, I do know it was too hot to transplant the roses, but they had just been dug up and were sitting in temporary plastic pots so they'd have definitely perished if I didn't) and they're holding on but not really thriving. Can we have a poll, and y'all tell me if you think it's worth the work? Because I can fill the area (23' x 13') with hibiscus and have done with it. I do want it to be a rose garden, but I'm not a maniac about it.
Thoughts?
If you want roses...I'd try with the roses. After all. NW corner should get late afternoon shade--its the best place I have for plants that can't take the all day sun.
That's what I needed to hear. I'll give it a couple of years -- if I give up now and plant hibiscus (which really do well here and would be utterly gorgeous) I'll always wonder if I could have made it a rose bed. If after two years I can't make headway, then I'll plant hibiscus. I've had some pretty good luck with roses.
Do the roses, if you don't you'll probably regret it. I've learned if the heart wants roses, go for it.
Be careful of the food boxes, I would think critters would get in there and move them all around looking for something. I have to be careful what I put on the curb in the recycle bin. Coons can smell pizza a mile away.
I don't THINK I'll have much of a critter problem -- are those famous last words? -- as the neighborhood, though new, is fairly well developed and the back yard is entirely fenced as of last weekend. But if I put out cardboard that smells of chicken nuggets, it could be seen as an invitation. Good thing to keep in mind. I do have frogs and toads, a few birds, and enough fireants to make fuel. Hmm... maybe I'm onto something...
It's hard to forgive myself for putting anything artificial or toxic onto the ground, but I do poison fireants.
Just a flower bed suggestion... A lady down the road made a large bed mixed with roses and hibiscus. She has a bird bath in the middle. The hibiscus gave instant floral gratification while the roses got established. I look forward to watching it develop every spring now. Beautiful!
podster, it hit me just this morning to combine the two. Roses down here can get so puny, but the hibs flourish. I'll have to look into what to do about any competition between them, but hearing that success story is a good omen. Of course, it's too @*#^ hot to transplant anything right now. I do have a birdbath, and a little bird feeder hanging under the rose arbor. Okay, the hopefully-will-one-day-be-a rose arbor. I can sit at my dining table and look out a BIG window to watch the goings-on. A few hibs in there could only improve it. As I have mainly pink and yellow roses I'll go for those gorgeous yellow hibs with the red throats and maybe some deep pink ruffly ones. But I've heard the ruffly ones don't stand much cold.
There is a hardy hibiscus that is planted from seed and has large dinner plate size blooms. They are pretty but I think I would go with the tropical hibiscus. You should be able to mulch to get them thru the winters. I also like the althea, confederate rose and texas star, all related to hibiscus. Good luck, pod
I've had problems removing areas of grass no matter WHAT the type but I hate the thick coarse look of the popular Augustine. I actually put in a mix of Bermuda and Fescue to take over but my neighbor who's been out of country a while has a sprinkler system that runs almost 24/7, it pools so much water it leaves puddles. =) Which is great, my lawns watered for free almost but it has brought the almost brown crunchy Augustine the builder put in and didn't water back to life and it's taken over most of the area. I'll just deal with the mix I got and mulch a lot in the exsisting garden beds to reduce it's spread. I hear there is nothing you can do about Johnson grass short of killing all the grasses around it? Oh thats the lawns true downfall.....
For a bouquet look, you can plant Aster subulatas amongst your tea roses - it will seed to other parts of garden, though.
For those who live in TX zones 2, 3a, 3b, and 10 can use Hymenopappus artemisiifolius (native biennial) with their roses for an old-fashioned looking bouquet that attracts butterflies.