Garden Series: How to Remove Grass in the Fall

By Tim Goodwin

April 16, 2025

Source: Almanac

Photo Source: Unsplash,

• 4:06

How to Remove Grass in the Fall

Directly below are three methods to use in the fall. See further below for spring projects.

1. Smothering Method

This is the common method, and biodegradable cardboard is used to smother grass and weeds.

1. Define your garden bed. Outline the garden’s shape with a hose, string, or rope. A rectangle is easiest.

2. Start by clearing the surface of any debris and any rocks larger than a hen’s egg. Mow down grass or cut back weeds to the ground.

3. Cover the plot with layers of cardboard or 8 to 10 sheets of newspaper, overlapping the edges by at least 6 inches. If you’re using newspaper, ensure the sheets have black ink only (no color). The cardboard needs to be unwaxed. Mark out paths between the beds using thick cardboard laid with generous overlaps. This will help to kill off the weeds between growing areas. You can cover the cardboard with bark chips or similar later.

4. Thoroughly wet the cardboard to help it break down. The cardboard will serve as a further barrier to weeds, exhausting and eventually killing most of them. Once the growing season gets underway, you’ll find that any weeds that manage to make it through will be much easier to remove.

5. Now add a thick layer of well-rotted organic matter. Add compost 3 to 4 inches thick over the paper or cardboard to hold it down. Fast-forward a few months, and any grass and weeds below will have rotted down, returning all that wonderful nitrogen back to the soil. Earthworms will work to gradually incorporate the organic matter into the soil below gradually. You’re left with loose, dark, moist soil with no weeds.

If the organic matter in your bed is still lumpy at planting time, start vegetable seedlings off in plug trays or pots to plant out once they’ve grown a sturdy root system. This will also make it easy to space plants out at exactly the right distance, saving you time thinning out rows of seedlings.

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