I wouldn't till it. Depending upon the kind of grass you have, that can "reseed" the area and the stuff will grow better than ever.

I'd strip the sod, stack it upside down, cover with an opaque tarp, and let it sit for a year until well composted/broken down.

Then I'd put it back into the garden.

Unfortunately tilling in grass or sod only gives you a weedy garden for several years.

Either strip it off first as jean suggested and then till the soil or try laying down several layers of thick cardboard on top of it and building a raised bed on top of the cardboard. Either way works.

Dave

Ditto the very good advice above. Laying down the cardboard nice and thick and then layering topsoil and compost will get you where you want to go much faster. Grasses often grow from rhizomes (little underground growing units) and if you chop those up you have multiplied your problem--even spading can add to the problem. Wait to start the garden until the weather has been dry 7 to 10 days so that you don't compact your soil.

Here is a link that might be useful: HarvestToTable.com

Another question you might like to ask yourself is what do you do to prevent the adjacent grass from growing into your garden bed.

You can either keep on top of it by using a hoe and removing it as it encroaches, dig a v shaped trench a few inches down all around to prevent it's spread or bury edging material a few inches down. The last option involves spending money for the edging, but requires no labor once installed.

Cardboard is the best safe and quick method. I lay it down, inter-laying various pieces to make sure I get complete coverage, and also make sure the cardboard edge are outside the bed boarder - that way the grass/weeds are also killed immediately next to the bed. Sprinkle water over the cardboard to make it more flexible. I add a layer of leaves and water them too, and then start adding soil, compost, etc. You can plant in that bed immediately.

if you do till, plan on tilling often. everytime you disturb the soil you bring fresh weed/grass seed close to the surface and it will germinate. so either buy a tiller and use it, or go raised bed.

BTW, i till mine. since i have a tiller i can usually keep ahead of teh grass though. if my gardeen was not 100x100, i would probably do raised beds, but for now i will just keep going against all advice here(this board not necessarily this thread! LOL) and keep tilling.

Same here as above. I have a tiller attached to my tractor. my 80'x40' garden is big enough that I need it. if it were smaller by less than half I might not till...but it aint. As far as starting new. I went from grass
{{gwi:46050}}
plowed it and disced it without removing grass
{{gwi:46051}}
and planted.
{{gwi:46052}}

weeds weren't a problem. Go figure

Nice garden mailman22.
I use a fork and spade to cut out and shake out the sod and then it goes into the compost pile. I turn the earth with the fork and add compost, composted manure, and sometimes peat based soil-less mix from previous years container plants.

I edge the garden with a 1' wide black plastic mulch border

mailman, what type of tiller do you have. I am getting ready to turn up approx. 1/2 - 3/4 acre and would like to get something to put behind my lawn tractor. I looked at the DR ROTO-HOG but really didn't want to spend $2400.00 this year with all the other expenses of my gh this year.

{{gwi:46053}}
The tiller is a Wheel Horse. Works great!

How much ground are you working with? I can't believe how cowardly we've become when it comes to offering simple solutions. If I'm sick, I'm going to the doctor and not eat a thousand honey locust seeds. I'll drink a soda and eat Big Mac occasionally. Our life expectancy and quality of life are the highest in human history. Spray your garden with Roundup (glyphosate). Wait a few days, plant at will. Never use chemicals again. Put a compost pile at the end of your garden and add yearly. By the time you drive around collecting cardboard and the necessary organic materials, wait a year, you will have lost any organic benefit you gained anyway--and you will be discouraged. Most of all, don't worry about failure at first and enjoy the little triumphs.

Mailman, I love the pics. How in the heck do you keep your equipment so clean?

Best of luck,

Brook

In my opinion: Of course you should till it. You want deep cultivated soil for the roots of your plants to grow through. You can get away with not tilling it, but why would you?

I would second the roundup comment... if weeds are a serious concern, then use roundup before tilling. Personally, I tilled my garden twice without stripping the grass or using roundup, and weeds aren't too bad of a problem. Next I'll be tilling up 10K square feet of grass, and you can bet I'll be using roundup on that - no way I'm dealing with all those weeds.