The Grass Doctor

How to put grass over my existing flower bed?

I have a crazy flower bed, it has been here since we bought the house and more than likely years before that. I want to have only grass in the yard and keep the existing shrubs and trees only. Do I need to pull the flowers and lay weed cloth, then put soil on top and then seed or sod grass? Or, do I just cut the flowers down and put the cloth over and so forth? What is the best way to do this? I also have some areas where there use to be cement blocks (under a shed) and I need grass there too... Thanks!

Public Comments

1. If the bed is lower than the surrounding grass, you could clip off the plants, sod the area, and just mow anything that pokes through. If you want to seed the area, you'll need to work harder. You may well have plants, like oriental poppies, that will grow back if you chop them off, and grow back 10x worse if you try to pull them out. This might be a case for RoundUp (which I really hate to use). You could also walk around the neighborhood, and find someone who has a nice flower bed. Offer them everything you've got, they just have to dig it up themselves in the next week. Under the blocks, expect to turn the soil to loosen things up before putting in grass. Compacted soil does not grow anything well. You might also do a soil test, see what you should add while you're doing work. Laying down a cloth (dark) and burning out the plants works better the hotter your weather. Took at least 6 weeks in MA, would probably only take 2 weeks in TX in August.
2. You will have to pull up the existing flowers/ plants by their roots or they will keep coming back. you then need to use a good weed killer or if you prefer, a weed barrier. You will have to wait a few weeks after most root killers before you can plant anything else in the area. For the areas where concrete blocks were I would add some topsoil before planting grass seed.