Gardening

Can you dig it? How to remove your grass economically.

Landscapers and gardening consultants offer advice on how to plan the great lawn upheaval, and it all comes down to patience versus good old-fashioned elbow grease.

By Lindsay Crudele

June 12, 2024

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It’s often said that in order to create, we must first destroy. And in the sacred pantheon of the home landscape, the manicured green lawn has reigned supreme. But sometimes, even titans must fall. As calls for more sustainable landscaping practices abound, gardeners are swapping patchy and high-maintenance lawns for cottage-style flower gardens, pollinator meadows, and other creative landscape ideas. There’s only one thing standing in the way: all that grass.

Processes for removing an established lawn each come with their own considerations. Landscapers and gardening consultants have advice for how to plan the great lawn upheaval, and it all comes down to patience versus good old-fashioned elbow grease.

First, removing grass requires a mind-set adjustment. Jessica Zander, a Winchester-based garden coach, recently shared an instructive Instagram video in which she referred to “exposure therapy” while chopping apart hostas. And as more of her clients express interest in lawn alternatives — reducing or eliminating grass, converting it to microclover, and other options that require less water and fertilizer to thrive — hacking up the lawn is becoming a regular practice.

The fastest method is just to get in there and dig it up. But it isn’t easy. And there are techniques that can make the work easier and preserve valuable topsoil. And yes, if you want that wildflower meadow, removing the established grass is probably necessary.

“[Grass] is the most common perennial in the country actually,” Zander said, noting that gardeners who aspire to having a meadow often think scattering seed over grass is enough.

Not true.

“You have to remove all the grass and prep the area, because those seeds will not survive the grass,” she said. “The grass is just way too established … and will outcompete those seeds.”

For the least expensive, quickest option — as opposed to hiring a professional crew or renting industrial sod remover — just ripping it up is your best bet. An “Italian” or grub hoe can be a handy tool if that’s your plan, said Pembroke-based David Vetelino, vice president of the Massachusetts Nursery and Landscape Association. Use a sharp edge, and orient the blade horizontally, cutting in line against the roots to pry up the turf. Leave as much soil behind as possible. A soil quality test will help you understand what’s underneath, and you should amend it accordingly.

“I wouldn’t do more than a tiny spot in my own yard, because it’s a lot of work,” said Catherine Volić, president of Natick-based Sweetgum Horticulture. And a flat shovel or an edger tool is the key.

Dig around the entire area, and cut about 1-foot chunks to pry with the edge of the shovel, shaking off as much soil as you can, she said.

There is an easier option, but it’s a slow road.

You can save your back by sheet mulching, a long-game alternative that also will improve your soil quality. The idea is to smother the grass with compostable materials, which break down over several weeks, leaving tillable soil — no grass removal required.

Volić said she starts with a roll of builder’s paper, overlapping layers and topping with 2 inches of compost or a good, enriching mulch on top. Over time, the paper will disintegrate, and you can plant right into what remains.

“If you do it in the spring, you can usually plant in the fall,” Volić said. “If you do it in the fall, you can often plant by next spring.”

With sheet mulching, there’s no need to haul and remove soil and sod. Volić said it’s a good fit for the budget-minded and the patient.

Invasive plants, which can be described as introduced species that jump borders and crowd out native biodiversity, nose their way into this conversation, too.

Before you do any digging, landscapers caution that checking for the presence of invasives is a vital step. Improper removal can make a bad situation worse. For some species, mowing before they go to seed makes sense. For others, it gets more complicated.

“If you have a lawn that you haven’t really been caring for, that’s just sort of a whole bunch of weeds that you’ve been mowing over, you want to make sure there aren’t invasive things in there,” Volić said. Transporting that sod could spread them.

“I think the key here, as with any invasive, is to identify what you have,” Zander said. “With something like Japanese knotweed and Tree-of-Heaven, if you don’t handle it properly, you make it worse.” For example, leaving fragments of knotweed in the soil can propagate more. In that case, a gardener would be wise to follow eradication protocol for that plant before disturbing the area.

Maintaining a healthy and picturesque lawn can be an uphill battle. Grass is a monoculture and requires a lot of water and fertilizer to stay perky.

“I have a lot of people that do call and say, ‘I want to grow grass here’ … and it’s basically like the inside of your closet when the doors close — it’s dark,” said Vetelino. “It’s a hard thing to grow grass in the Northeast; the climate is just not ideal for grass … Everybody grows it, but it obviously takes some effort to have a really nice lawn.”

Grass doesn’t belong in every area even when we try, Vetelino said. That realization can be a good reason to try flower beds or other lawn alternatives.

And for the creative gardener, your canvas awaits.

Lindsay Crudele can be reached at [email protected]. Follow Address on Twitter @globehomes.