I have my raised beds in the lawn so I have grass pathways, but just removing the sod and planting would result in the grass creeping into the growing area during the growing season.

You would need some form of edging or trenching to control this.

It does work, but as Justaguy says, you will need to edge it. Make sure your plots are short enough widthwise that you can easily reach to the center or you will defeat the purpose. A nice thick layer of mulch after planting also helps. What are you considering growing?

well I guess that is how mine are . Our yard is so small, I had dh make me some boxes, I dug up the ground in the boxes, but I did not fill up the boxes completly with new soil, I just added compost and some new garden soil. The boxes were just to keep the dog out and so the kids knew the boundries.

If your space is large enough, I would recommend making your space between wide enough for the lawnmower...lots less work if you can mow them ...you will still get overgrowth into your planting area but keeps the paths nice and tidy.

There have been discussions on this "living mulch" idea for a long time. Besides lawn grass, Dutch clover has been suggested.

Here are a couple of concerns beyond what has been mentioned so far. I have not used this technique so there's not much experience behind these thoughts, however.

One is that dwarf lawn grass still blooms and set some seed even when mowed. The mowing would tend to spread the seed into the beds.

I manage to track grass seed INTO the garden. And, that leads to another concern, traffic. Paths could sure develop on the lawn as the grass gets beaten down. Taller vegetables would shade it, further limiting the grass. And, vines would creep out of the growing beds unless they were trellised which would also result in shade.

Broad paths with edging may be an answer and stepping stones may be of help.

Steve

I initially set up my garden boxes with the walkways between in grass. After several frustrating seasons dealing with blown mown grass all over my lettuce and choking the other plants as well as creating terrible weed infestations, I redid the garden as slightly raised beds with mulched walkways.

The mulched walkways are sooooooooooooooooo much easier!
Then:
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Now:
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WOW!!! what a pretty garden granite!!!

What ya doing with the pistol? Shooting SVBs? LOL
Looks like my shooter when I was a kid.
1eyedJack and the Dawg

Mine started that way, with grass in between mounded up beds, like this:
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After I figured out it was impossible for the mower to get in there without tearing up my veggies, I mulched with newspaper and straw, like this (same area, different angle):
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Now for my "front" garden...
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This year I have grass in between beds and this time the path is wide enough for the mower. That's convenient, but I really have to fight with creeping charlie and clover getting into the beds around the edges. Next year I'll use newspaper and straw, or some other mulch, for paths. It's just so much easier not to have to weed or mow it.

i have lots of room in my backyard ( 2 acres ) so i started one row to experiment this year my rows are 16" wide and i leave 32" in between. My mower is 22' wide and i plan on using the grass catcher so i don't spray my plants with the grass clippings.

Thanks for the comments and pictures its great.

I think the ratio of 16/bed to 32/grass will be diificult to prevent the grass from taking over very quickly, particularly when the crops are small or not at all and the grass can make headway. I'd make the beds at least three feet wide, because you can reach them from both sides, and if the mower is 22 you can probably make the paths less than 32. In any case, as mentioned, if you are really tending a garden regularily the grass paths will quickly wear out and turn to mud, after which you can mulch or put down stone and the beds will be better off anyway.