How to remove front lawn for a native garden?

[KarenMay]

We have sprayed our front lawn in preparation for mulching and creating a native garden.  Do we need to dig up the dead lawn now? or can we lay the mulch and compost holes only where we are planting shrubs?  

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @KarenMay. It's terrific to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about creating a garden.

Whether or not you need to dig up the dead lawn depends a bit on the condition of the grass and how compacted the soil is underneath. If you don’t mind sharing a few photos of the lawn, that would help give a clearer picture and allow more tailored advice. Let me know if you need a hand uploading images.

In many cases, if the grass is fully dead and the soil isn’t too compacted, you can simply lay your mulch directly over the top and plant into holes dug through the mulch and grass layer. The grass will gradually break down underneath, helping to improve the organic matter in your soil. That said, it's really important to make sure the grass is completely dead before moving forward—any live roots can shoot back up through the mulch, especially if you're using a lighter cover.

To help prevent that, you might consider laying a weed matting or even overlapping sheets of cardboard over the dead lawn before applying your mulch. This adds an extra layer of suppression and helps reduce the chance of any persistent weeds or grass re-emerging. If the soil is particularly compacted, it might also be worth loosening the ground in your planting spots or digging in compost where needed to give your natives the best chance of establishing. Id would also be an idea to dig larger than needed holes and fill them with a good-quality native mix before planting.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell
 

[KarenMay]

Thank you Mitchell for your helpful advice. 

 

 

[KarenMay]

The first pic is of the dead grass situation. The second pic is the small sand bunds (mounds) we are creating to prevent the wood chips sliding down the slight slope we have when it rains. We are going to cover them with ground cover eg. Pig face and grevillea. 

The street side of the mounds is our boundary so will plant more ground cover and couple of grevilleas on the street verge.

Do you have any suggestions?

We are planning a gravel path house side of black boy. How can we avoid it needing edging? 

I really appreciate your help Mitchell.

KarenMay

[JacobZ]

Hi @KarenMay,

It looks like the grass is dead enough that simply laying mulch over the top with some cardboard or weed mat will do the trick.

The small sand bunds you’ve created to stop the wood chips from eroding are a smart move. Once they’re planted out with ground covers, they’ll help stabilise the area even more. To give your plants the best start, it might help to water the mounds deeply a couple of times and mix a bit of compost into the top layer before planting. If you’re open to a bit more texture, you could also add some small native grasses or sedges like Lomandra, which is compact and hardy. 

You could reduce the need for a border by digging the outline of the pathway around 100mm into the soil before adding your gravel. Once in place, you can plant your choice of small groundcover plants along the path to create a natural border and to lock the soil in place with root growth.

Allow me to tag @mich1972 and @Noelle to see if they have any other ideas.

Good luck with the project and don't forget to upload some photos when you are done. 

Let us know if you have any further questions along the way.

Jacob

[KarenMay]

Thank you very much JacobZ for your ideas, very much appreciated. I will keep you posted on our progress. 👍