Zone 7b. I’m wanting to kill this strip and come back in with some native, drought-resistant plants and landscaping rocks. I’ve started with two tactics: cardboard with tires to hold it down in one corner and then garbage bags taped down with gorilla tape in the other corner. I’ve had it on there for two months and (ironically) the grass looks GREENER under the tarp and cardboard than the rest of the yard!
I’m not happy with it. It looks trashy and flaps around something fierce with our strong winds out here. And the process of cutting up garbage bags and taping them together is tedious and not as cost effective as I had wished. Our neighbors have been very generous and kind and haven’t complained, but I don’t want to be an annoyance with my tarp and tires out here!
Should I stick with it to see results? WILL there be results from this? Or should I tear up the cardboard and tarp, and use a shovel to pry up all the topsoil and grass?
by MrBananaShoes
4 Comments
Pictured is a strip of grass between the sidewalk and street. A black tarp in on one corner and a hodge-podge of cardboard held down by tires is at the other corner.
Is it Bermuda grass? I ask because suppressing it is quite a job. There are multiple posts on Reddit about killing Bermuda grass
Several options that don’t include tarping:
– nonselective herbicide
– manually remove it with a flat shovel
– rent a sod cutter
– mow it really low (scalp) and put a thick layer of wood chips/dirt/gravel on it
I’d replace it. Just dig out a patch at a time, plant something I like, spread thick mulch over the bare dirt around it.