I would like to get rid of a large portion of grass in my front yard and replace it with beds (flowers and herbs -- I already have a raised veggie bed). I think I have decided that solarization is probably the best way to kill the grass without chemicals, but I have a few questions.

- do I need to pull up all the grass and till the ground, THEN lay the plastic? There's a lot of grass and it's on a slope so I would rather not have to do all that work if I don't have to.

- can I lay the plastic now, or do I need to wait until it's warmer? Right now we are usually in the low 50's and at night in the 30's. Most of the sites I've seen say to leave it on 6-7 weeks, but it's not that warm here right now. I'm not sure if I should wait or just leave it on longer.

- Has anyone done this and how long does it last? Is it going to be a yearly process? I tore up grass and put down newspaper and mulch last year but all the grass is back.

Advice?!?! :)

Thanks!