Can I Plant On Top Of Grass

[broadway]

Hi Folks,

I took delivery of a green house / poly tunnel on Saturday which is now on my lawn.

My question is I plan to have a metre square raised bed within and wondered if I could top the bed up and sow without digging the grass underneath?

Cheers

[nomates]

Can I ask what you are planning to grow?

[broadway]

salad bits spring onions lettuce and maybe rocket

[FionaH]

Salad and stuff like cool conditions might get too warm?

[Galileo]

The grass will probably come through. The usual method is to skim off the grass turf and dig the area while adding compost or manure.

I have just made some large raised beds in my gargen and double dug the whole area. It was very hard work but I am now on the no dig system so I won't have to dig ever again.

Its really a question of doing work now by digging and getting the bed set up or doing work later by lots of weeding. Unfortunately there is not a no work option. I wish there were because the double digging was no fun.

Galileo

[snohare]

You could do that maybe if you put down a thick enough layer of newspapers or weedproof membrane before putting soil into your bed. It depends on how deep your raised bed is; I try to make mine knee height, some raised beds are only a couple of inches above the ground. The problem is that the grass will find its way up through the soil to the light even when buried to the depth of a good few inches, so you have to cut off the light to it. I'd be inclined to just reverse the top layer of sod and top up above that, as it rots down it will give you nutrients.