I want to get rid of this grass and plant wildflowers/pollinator friendly plants. I don't really want to wait through solarizing, but I don't know if manual removal will be effective? There are tree roots from the huge silver maple under most of the grass. Any advice is appreciated!!!
by RegretIntelligent175
5 Comments
Colorado, 6a!
Would just set out tilling it. You’ll need to do it anyway for planting and determining where the trees roots are.
manual removal is fine. those roots will be a ok if you just cover with mulch as long as the root flair is not covered. if you solarize it will negatively affect the tree if you just cover with plastic. my advice would be find some free dirt, cover with a good few inches, and sow in the dirt (i am anti cardboard becasue they can attract termites)
just fyi, silver maples in settings like this usually do not live their full life.
Not an expert but went thru this last month. I also didn’t want to wait for solarization. I used a hoop hoe/stirrup hoe and just hacked away at it. (This tool is also essential for weeding, I love it.) Areas without roots I could just use a flat head shovel.
It’s a lot easier when the ground is wet, then you can rip out the grass clumps easier. Saturate the area or do it after a good rain. Put on some music or a podcast.
It’s super easy to manually remove grass when there’s no tree roots, but the area I did under a tree was tough. I powered thru tho. I can see a few little missed grass bits coming up, but I pull them up when I see them. I also covered the area with arborist chips.
I also intended to do a larger area around the tree, but the difficulty made me size it down. I actually strained my bicep tendon doing it lol. But I healed up within a week or so and am super happy with the results. So just start with your most desired planting area then see how much you’re willing to do. As everyone always says and I need to keep reminding myself: “do area by area, if you try to do it all at once you’ll get overwhelmed.”
Keep your pruners on you for when you need to cut a root. My husband got me a nice leather garden tool belt for my birthday and it’s been such a game changer to have my two favorite pruners always on my hip.
The Root-Slayer brand half-moon edger was super helpful for me defining the edges of the grass/mulched bed border, but not sure if you will need that there.
Awesome idea, I would caution to do your research for pollinators and such. That area probably is pretty shady under that maple? Might not be enough sun to get lots of blooms on flowers. But that doesn’t mean you can only have grass. For prepping the bed I would get a tarp and a [hoe/cultivator tool](https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ames-Hoe-Cultivator-Combo-with-Wood-Handle-1994800/205186022). Then just go hog wild breaking up that turf scraping up the clumps onto the tarp and going around the roots as best I can.