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I want to change my lawn to a flower and vegetable garden, how can I get rid of all the grass?

I have a really big back yard and a front yard as well, I am just so tired of mowing the lawn and I don't really like lawn itself, I much prefer to have a vegetable garden and flower garden, my question is, how can I get rid of the existing grass in the yard? Should I wait for the winter comes and it will all die and just start to grow flower next spring or it will come back? What should I do and when should I do it? Thank you.

Public Comments

1. if you have a big back yard, you will have a heck of a time ripping out all that grass. when my first greyhound started digging holes, i pealed back the grass by using a flat tip garden shovel. then i put paving bricks there instead (he couldnt dig thru that!). then i put flower beds all around the edges of the yard. but then again, my yard is small. if you have too much grass to remove by shovel, try black plastic bags weighed down to the ground. this will generally kill the grass off first then you can yank it out much easier. dont try to use any chemicals to kill the grass because this will also stop what ever you plant next from taking hold. black plastic bag method avoids chemicals as does digging it out with a shovel.
2. Use Roundup (glyphosate) or 2-4D. Roundup will kill almost everything but broad leaf plants, and clover. 2-4D will kill almost anything. It works best in warm weather and sunshine but just slows down when it's cold. The plants must have green leaves for Roundup. Make sure you want to do this as the killing will eliminate the grass. The seeds will emerge later when you will have to treat the yard again. So you want to start now for all that to happen and your soil will be worked for the beds. I think you will have as much work with flower beds as mowing, maybe more. Flower beds look good only for a little while, so much study must be put into it.
3. Most lawn grasses are perennial, that means they'll come back. Till it under, cover it with several layers of newspaper or large sheets of cardboard, and cover that with mulch. By next spring, you'll be able to plant right through holes in the paper/cardboard, and the lack of sunlight will smother out the grass and keep seeds in the soil beneath from germinating. Be warned, taking care of a garden, especially in a big yard, is lots more work than mowing it is, although it's a different kind of work. You can't just plonk the seeds in the ground in the spring and not do anything more to it. Try putting in a small garden next spring, see how much attention it takes, and figure out from there how much garden you can handle. There's nothing more dispiriting than starting a large garden and getting worn out by May and seeing the whole thing becoming weeds by August. Another option would be installing a patio area and having low-maintenance plants in a garden around the edge of the yard to reduce mowing.
4. Oh, I detect a potential gardener that hasn't a clue how to go about gardening ! It sounds good on paper, but if you haven't had any experience growing a veggie or flower garden....stick to mowing the lawn. You wouldn't believe how much work gardening can be until you try it for yourself, or I recommend you help someone else with their garden and decide you want to devote most of your summer evenings plowing, weeding, spraying for insects, tying up vines or tomato plants to keep them from rotting on the ground. You will need lots of implements; a rototiller, rake, hoes, spades, compost or fertilizer, garden gloves, seeds, plants, sprayers, insecticide, and lots of elbow grease.' Mowing grass is a piece of cake compared to gardening
5. Please do not use chemical herbicides to remove the grass. When chemicals are used, you kill all the life in the soil and surrounding area. This includes the earthworms and other beneficial or benign things such as bees and butterflies, that create balance for healthy soil and growing conditions, or provide essential pollination for fruit production. By the way, birds that land on or nearby take these chemicals home to their young (if the parents live through the initial contact) and it kills them. And if the chemicals kill all those forms of life, just think of what it is doing to you while you are spraying it, and the aftereffects. Do you want to be eating vegetables and fruit or working with soil that has even the residue of something that kills anything it touches? Do you want your children playing outside and helping you pick beans in a garden that has been doused in poison? The most effective way I have found of clearing an area is to cover it over for a season or so until the grass dies underneath. You can do this with ground cloth that is used by nurseries, or plastic. Just remember to use a plastic that is strong enough to withstand outdoor conditions. You can cover the whole thing with an attractive mulch such as bark. A really effective thing I used to do when readying a new flower bed, that cost next to nothing was simply spread thick layers of newspaper over the area and spread bark over that in the summer or fall, leave it for the winter, and the following spring I would just turn it by hand with a shovel, although you can use a rototiller if the area is very large. The paper and bark decompose to enrich the soil.
6. Till it up or have it tilled. Cover with a thick layer of leaves over sheets of newspaper (not the colored parts of the paper) and/or pine straw. Start with small areas that are shaped & cut out for flower garden & veggie garden. Take your time & learn what each flower/plant/veggie needs or you'll surely be overwhelmed. As you get it looking like you want it & how hard/easy it is for you to care for you can either add to it or go back to grass. However, if you kill all the grass & then change your mind it'll be alot more work to get it growing back again. There's nothing wrong with using round up now & covering those areas you want to rid of with newspaper. By next spring, the grass will be gone & the soil ready to be turned over. You'll be able to plant in it & the worms, etc will be back, as it only kills plant vegetation.