If you want to grow your own food and are starting with lawn, where do you begin? Let’s take a look at three different options. First of all, if you’re not in too much of a hurry to get started, you could try the following. Cover the area down with a thick layer of farmyard manure or compost and then with a sheet of black plastic. Leave for a year. The lack of light (due to the plastic) will kill of the grass and the worms will do the digging work for you (if you leave them alone for long enough). This is clearly not the method to use if you are hoping to get started this spring, but if you are willing to leave the area be for 12 months (maybe put a small raised bed somewhere else so you can grow this year) this is the easiest and cheapest approach.
The second option to consider is raised beds – this is the quickest way to get going though not necessarily the cheapest. Use untreated timber and build a raised bed of no more than 1.2m wide so that you can always reach in to the centre of the bed (you should never walk on the soil in your veggie beds as it compacts it). The bed can be as long as you want. Fill it with a mix of 70% soil and 30% compost. If you wish, before you put in the soil, put a good thick layer of cardboard and newspaper on the grass and then wet it – this will rot down and also kill off the grass. You will be able to sow in a raised bed almost immediately after filling it – leave it a few days to allow the soil to settle.
The third option is to get out your spade and dig, the old fashioned way! If you feel the soil is good in your garden, then there is probably no reason to go to the expense of a raised bed. With “single digging” you dig out trenches to a spades depth, known as a spit, and about 30cm (12in) wide. Place the soil from the first trench on the ground in front and work backwards along the plot, turning the soil from each subsequent trench into the one in front (so that the grass on each sod is facing down in to the trench). When you have made the final trench, you turn the sods from the very first trench in to it. You will need to leave the bed be for about 4-6 weeks and then turn it over gently with a fork before planting in to it.
