[sootyfaestoney]

My plot is all grass/moss and Daffies grown over, and I am wondering when I dig it do I have to remove all the grass etc or just turn it over and bury it. I know the daffies will have to come oot. but will all the grass have to come oot tae.
cheers

[Yorkie]

You will need to remove the grass if you want to grow anything other than bulbs.

If the grass roots are fibrous (like a mesh) then just skim off the top couple of inches and stack the grass in a corner to rot down into compost.

If the grass roots are like white piano wire, you need to fork them out - this is couch grass - and don't compost them.

If there's a lot of moss there may be some poor drainage or a lot of shade.

PS There are no daft questions on here!

[sarajane]

Totally depends on the type of grass you have growing.  Couch grass needs to be dug out and removed, not composted even, and if you google couch grass you will be able to distinguish it from the type of grass I would just turn into the earth or compost.

If it is couch grass you probably won't be able to rid yourself of it in the first year but steady digging it out helps, along with any perenial weeds like dandelion, buttercup.

Slow and steady with new ground .

[sootyfaestoney]

thanks for that, I was at it for a few hours today, forking the plot and on my knees picking out all the wee bits. do you have to get it all or will weeding the bleeder later on do.

[Trillium]

No one wants to hear that its better to try to pick out as much as possible. Hoeing will only chop it up into small bits which turn into a lot more plants. Small weeds like chickweed aren't so bad, but couch and bindweed are horrid and it's an all out battle with them for several years (even a lifetime for some).

[casper]

Yes Couch is horrid!! I dig mine up and can't bear the thought of leaving it behind, so I take mine the local tip on my way home. If I was allowed a fire I would burn the devil, anybody would think I had a sore back form digging it up