Shoots coming through my new compost

[davegore2005]

looking for advice again, i posted as a newbie a few weeks ago about my newly built raised beds, lots of useful answers, thanks,

i decided to put for now some multi-purpose compost and then some topsoil in, but I didn't remove the turf off the lawn before I did, I just assumed that it would rot away with no sunlight, and put the compost on top of it, but I am getting lots of little chutes coming through the compost, which is around 6 inches deep

i have dug through with my hands to look, and the turf below is already well rotted away, there is no green that I can see, just these chutes that are coming off where the grass was

have I made a terrible error in not stripping the grass and turning it over to compost down against the soil underneath it, and am I likely to have to remove the compost to do this??

any advice appreciated

Dave

[Thelma Sanders]

You've done nothing wrong as the grass just rots away nicely, as you've found.
Don't panic, you've just got some weed shoots growing through, so scrape the compost away and dig the weed roots out.
You would have/always will get some weed shoots growing no matter how you choose to start a bed.

[nickdub]

I agree its likely weed roots - best to try to get them out as thoroughly as possible using a fork, any bits left will re-grow. You can kill the roots by either drying them out or by putting them in a barrel of water - they contain lots of nutrients.

Best to sow some green manure crop in your new beds if your can - filed-beans for example.

[davegore2005]

relief

guys, thanks for the answers and the reassurance, I had visions of having to dig the whole lot out

thanks

Dave