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reusing soil from turf

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  • 20-03-2012 7:48pm
    #1
    planetX
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,441 ✭✭✭


    I've dug out a huge pile of turf to make a veggie patch - rugged garden, so turf = heavy soil with couch grass, dandelions, buttercups etc. Have it all stacked upside down, and normally I'd just cover it and leave it for the year to die off. But I need that soil back, plan to order topsoil is cancelled:(, so I'm looking for a way to kill the grass and weeds quickly while it's all still in a heap, without killing the worms. Would watering the pile with weedkiller work for all the stuff in the centre?


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    #2
    muckyhands
    Registered Users Posts: 407 ✭✭muckyhands


    planetX wrote: »
    I've dug out a huge pile of turf to make a veggie patch - rugged garden, so turf = heavy soil with couch grass, dandelions, buttercups etc. Have it all stacked upside down, and normally I'd just cover it and leave it for the year to die off. But I need that soil back, plan to order topsoil is cancelled:(, so I'm looking for a way to kill the grass and weeds quickly while it's all still in a heap, without killing the worms. Would watering the pile with weedkiller work for all the stuff in the centre?


    You could use a No- dig system which does exactly what it says on the tin and should do the job without you having to wait.....

    Put your turf back where you want it (STIIL UPSIDE DOWN) and cover it with any number of things:

    Newspaper, each one 1 newspaper thick
    Cardboard
    Mypex weed fabric
    Old carpet

    Anything non toxic that lets air and water to get in to the soil.

    Basically all you have to do thereafter is make a slit or hole where you want to plant and bobs your uncle- sorted.

    Just one catch though- not so easy if you want to grow from seed from the get go, one would think.

    So I think it might work better in these beds where you want to start from seed- if you used newspaper, which would mean you could make a slit easily the whole way along where you want to sow, add a little compost and then sow as normal.

    There is No guarantee to preserve the soil fauna if you start drenching it with chemicals.

    (Look into acetic acid based weed killers if you want to go this route though as its certified for organic use.)

    Vinegar in its Sunday morning form. :pac: :pac:


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