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How do you sow flower seeds on grass?

I'm planning to use a 4' by 5' area in my front yard to plant my new garden. However, right now it is covered with healthy and lush grass. How can I get rid of the grass in order to sow my flower seeds? What tools should I use, and where can I get them? How difficult is it/how much time does it take?

Public Comments

1. A shovel, or garden fork (the kind with heavy duty tines, used like a shovel, rather than a pitchfork, which is not for digging). Dig out the grass. An area like that should only take an hour or two to prep. less, if you're fast.
2. A garden spade, fork, rake and trowel. You can get them from any Home Depot or Walmart You need to dig out the turf (grass) the best way is to put the spade in straight down to about 4 - 5 inches, Do this right along one edge of the area you want to clear. Then do the same again but the width of the spade in. Cross cut the row at about 12 inch intervals. It is like cutting a square cake into equal pieces. Then use the spade just like the cake slice and slice the squares of turf out. Do not throw them away. Stack them upside down in an out of the way corner of your yard and cover them with black polythene. The grass will rot down and you will have some very good topsoil to use in your garden next year. Once you have all the turf out of the way, you will need to dig the area over. Do this with the fork, then rake the area over so there are no big lumps of soil left. Then plant your flowers, taller ones (or a pretty shrub in the middle and smaller ones in the front. To save weeding you can use a decorative bark mulch (from Home Depot or any garden centre) to put found the flowers. I hope you have great fun and a lot of pleasure from your new garden. Good Luck Beulah