Dig out the Bermuda. If you're doing a raised bed, put down cardboard after digging out the Bermuda, put your raised bed frame down, and fill the bottom portion with composty things. Then top with soil. It will still find a way to sneak in, but if you're watchful, you can try to dig it out as soon as you see it.

Dawn (one of the regulars here) is going to rent a sod cutter and cut out her bermuda.

So other than a sod cutter how can you dig it out?

If we'd blade off the top six inches or so, would that be bad to take away the top soil?

I guess the other option would be to tiller and rake out the grass.

How big is your garden? If not too big I would take a good sharp hoe and hack it down and rake it off. Then till it under several times and repeat later. If there are roots still , try to rake them out without removing too much top soil . If it's just been sprigged last year you might have a fighting chance. Hopefully the remaining roots will freeze out if it stays cold enough. It'll be a job to get rid of completely.

"If we'd blade off the top six inches or so, would that be bad to take away the top soil? "

You need to keep as much of your top soil as you can unless you are doing the raised bed thing and are adding soil to it from elsewhere.

I wouldn't use Roundup. Might poison the ground for the vegetables and yourself.

okmulgee boy

I have done all the above. Round up is the easiest, blading will be the hardest unless you have the equipment to do it with, I have the equipment and it would still be my last choice.

You need to tell more about what you want and what you are willing to put into it.

I have always heard that "Rome was not built in a day", also, a good garden wont be built in a year, at least not in my area.

I assume you have two small children, how much time will you have to invest? How much help will you have?

The garden will be approx 20x14 feet. We have the tractor and blade available. My husband and I will work on it together. I have a lot more time to work with it then my husband.

I'd be willing to do some raised garden ideas or planting in tubs. But somewhere I've gathered that Oklahoma is too hot to have raised gardens. My friend told me her tomatoes do better in the ground. What do you think?

I want to plant tomatoes, potatoes, green peppers, onions... Down that line. Maybe green beans.

Maybe the plot should be covered for a year, after all? I'd also thought about putting my chickens in the garden area for a year to beat down the grass and fertilize it.

I see a full fuzzy full moon tonight . I forget what full moon it is. Wolf moon maybe.

I'm hearing about another winter storm thing next week.

you'll take care. Love you'll.

okmulgee boy

I think it would be manageable with a hoe and a tiller. You don't need to wait for a year . If you can beat down the bermuda in time you can plant potatoes and onions. Later on in the spring you can put in green beans,after frost, and then tomatoes and green peppers,You can also do some container planting too for tomatoes.

Where there is a will there is a way.You'll have to try it out for your location. First of all what is your zone.

okmulgee boy

Years ago, someone (Dawn maybe?) told me the best way to put in a new garden was to dig out the grass by hand. When you were sick of digging, you knew the bed was big enough that you could still manage weeding it. Ever since, I've always dug out the grass for any new bed I make.

If I were putting in a new garden, I'd use this summer to solarize the grass and plant in containers. Peppers do fine in 3 gallon containers and tomatoes will grow in 5-10 gallon ones though you'll have to water more often and they don't produce as well. Then once the grass is killed, start digging it out. And then next year start the full garden. And the chickens would be a great way to "till" up the garden (and get rid of those blasted grubs)

Most of my garden is in raised beds. There is no "bottom" of the raised bed, though. It goes into the ground below it. Even my asparagus is in raised beds. They've worked for me.

You'll either have to spray the grass with poison or dig it out. Or do some sort of raised bed that doesn't touch the ground. I've seen those too. (Those would be harder to keep watered in the dry times, though).

Honestly, If I were you, I would make a couple of raised beds this year to plant in and start preparing future garden beds.

Oh, and I dig out Bermuda with a shovel.

When I was younger, much younger, I made raised beds. When I moved back to the country I made a type of raised bed. I would dig a ditch around an area, ( I think I started out with approx. 15 x 20' here) , throwing the soil from the ditch up on what was going to be my garden. I dug out the bermuda by hand. I used this method because I live in a low area and have a slight slope to my land. I would fill the ditch with organic matter to let it rot for next years amendments. I would amend the soil with a lot of compost the first year. By adding a lot of amendments, plus the soil from the ditch, the garden grade would be about 3 inches higher than the lawn, plus by having a slight slope the excess water would drain from my garden into the ditch and then around the garden. I had a lot of mulch, plus the ditch was filled with mulch. and I used a home made PVC drip system so the hot dry weather was not so hard on my garden.

I chose this system because of my health. I never know what year will be my last year of gardening, and I did not want my wife to have to tear out a bunch of raised beds to have a nice lawn again. By going the way I did, someone can just take one of the tractors and push out the higher soil to a low spot in the lawn or pasture. This has worked well for me, but your goals may be different.

Most people that I know started small, and then add a little each year until they were able to grow all that they wanted. If your soil is like mine, you will want to amend the soil each year, so start saving your organic matter. I have had a lot of satisfaction out of gardening and plan on doing it as long as I am able.

Thank you so much for all of your wisdom. I knew I would get great answers here. I'm in zone 7a.

Hi Mommy

I live in OKC. My back yard was Bermuda with weeds. It still is mostly. I dug out the Bermuda in a rectangle, about 36X48 inches the first year after I bought this house. I am still digging out Bermuda. For me, it is a never ending task... but I get it done eventually. I know, cause I have done it a few times before.

Once apart of time I lived in the country and had chickens. The chickens got rid of EVERYTHING that was in their fenced area. I should have gardened there... but since I had a patch prior to getting them I kept gardening there. I wish I could have chickens here, cause I know, I could enlarge my Bermuda grass area without digging.

The main thing for me is, dig out the roots, but don't take the topsoil
off cause it is the best soil I have, the top part. I do not have the funds to just
get new/other soil... besides the fact, there is no way to get it dumped
in my back yard... and I would have to haul it. Thus, this is a slow
moving project... but I have time.

My soil is very clay rich. This means with all the rain we had lately it is to wet to dig. With the current forecast I know, I am on a digging break. Am not exactly happy about it... but will take it. :)

Moni

I experimented last year with well established bermuda (i mean decades-old). I did a lasagna-style garden bed. I placed retail cardboard atop the bermuda. I didn't even mow it. 3" of compost atop the cardboard. I did this in late winter and planted tomato transplants at the usual time. I was initially disparaged to see some bermuda come through the whole thing, but it was only in a few spots. I weeded that one time, but never did again. My mind made it worse, I guess.

I think it was the combination of light exclusion, me weeding what did come up and the tomato roots taking over beneath. Bermuda is not invincible tho it may seem that way. I will do it this way from here on out.