How to Remove Grass: 4 Methods and What to Put Down After
Most people asking how to get rid of grass are not trying to get rid of it for its own sake. They want a bed, a path, a patio or a new lawn where the old one is, and the method that is right depends on what goes there next and how soon.
To remove grass quickly, cut it out with a sod cutter or a flat spade and refill the 1–2 inches of soil that comes out with it. To remove it cheaply, smother it under cardboard and 4–5 inches of compost and mulch for a few months. Solarising and spraying sit in between. All four are below, with what each one leaves behind.
| Method | How long | Effort | What it leaves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sod cutter or spade | A day | Heavy | Bare soil, 1–2 inches lower than before |
| Smothering (sheet mulch) | 2–4 months | Light | A planting bed, already amended |
| Solarising under clear plastic | 4–8 weeks in summer | Light | Dead grass to dig in or rake off |
| Non-selective herbicide | 1–3 weeks | Light | Dead grass in place, roots and all |
Cutting it out
A rented sod cutter slices the turf off in strips with an inch or two of soil and the roots attached. For a small area a sharp flat spade does the same job slowly: cut the turf into squares, slide the spade under at about two inches, and lift.
The catch is that the soil leaves with the grass. Take turf off 100 square feet at two inches and you have removed about 0.6 cubic yards of your best soil, and the area now sits below the lawn around it. If the next thing is a bed or a new lawn, order topsoil to bring the level back — the topsoil calculator works it out from the area and depth.
The cut turf is useful. Stacked grass-side down in a corner, it breaks down into good loam within a year.
Smothering it
Smothering — sheet mulching, or the lasagna method — kills grass by taking away light, and builds the new bed in the same step. It is the cheapest method that does not involve a chemical, and the slowest.
Mow the grass short and water it. Lay plain brown cardboard over it with the edges overlapping by six inches, after peeling off any tape and labels. Soak the cardboard, then cover it with about two inches of compost and three inches of mulch. Over 100 square feet that is roughly 0.6 cubic yards of compost and 0.9 of mulch; over 500 square feet, about three yards of compost and four and a half of mulch, which is the point where bulk delivery is far cheaper than bags.
The grass is usually dead in two to four months. Start in autumn and the bed is ready to plant in spring, by which time the cardboard has mostly broken down and you can plant straight through it.
Solarising it
Solarising uses the sun to cook the grass and the top few inches of soil. Mow short, water deeply, then stretch clear plastic tight over the area and bury the edges so the heat stays in. In full sun during the hottest weeks of summer it takes four to eight weeks.
Clear plastic heats the soil faster than black, which works by blocking light and takes longer. Either way it needs real heat: in a cool or cloudy spell it does very little, and in spring or autumn it may not work at all.
Spraying it
A non-selective herbicide kills grass down to the roots, usually within one to three weeks, and stubborn grasses may need a second application. Follow the label exactly, including the waiting period before you dig or plant — it varies by product. Spraying leaves the dead turf in place, so you still have to cut it out, dig it in or cover it.
What to put down after
- A planting bed: two to three inches of compost worked into the top six inches. The compost calculator for garden beds sizes it. If you smothered the grass, this is already done.
- A path: dig out four to five inches, set an edge, and lay gravel or decomposed granite over a compacted base.
- A patio or pavers: excavate deeper, to fit a compacted stone base and a bedding layer — see what goes under pavers.
- A new lawn: four to six inches of topsoil, as in how deep topsoil should be for a new lawn, and how to prepare soil for sod if you are laying turf.
- A raised bed: you often do not need to remove the grass at all. Lay cardboard on the grass inside the frame and fill on top.
And if you only want to raise or improve an existing lawn rather than replace it, removing the grass is the wrong job: you can put a thin layer of topsoil over grass and let it grow through.