Grass, New beds, dilemma!

[Bal]

Hi Guys i now have all my beds ready for soil. (just need to earn the readies to buy it!).
The beds are on what was the lawn. Do I need to dig up the grass and turn it or, can I just put the new topsoil on to it. There will be about 18 inches of new soil. I was going to try and get at least one crop of peas in there this year. Thanks

[kathyd]

I'm sure you could get away with covering it with a layer of cardboard - maybe with an inch or two of grass clippings on top?? - ready for the soil? Should help to suppress weeds and grass growth, and rot down eventually to feed the bed. Bit like lasagne gardening .

[Scarlet]

When I made mine, I dug out any perennial weeds and covered the grass in card and newspapers. Wet the whole lot thoroughly and put the soil on top. I didn't grow deep root veg the first year but the second year I grew fantastic parsnips.

[alldigging]

Lazy beds - have always wanted to try them on a nice bit of lawn

Growing Oca: Breaking New Ground for Tuber Planting — The Celtic 'Lazy Bed' Adapted
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BLy_W8la7s

[Two_Sheds]

just need to earn the readies to buy it!

You don't need to spend any money, if you are willing to put in some elbow grease: How to Make a Lasagna Garden (No-Till, No-Dig, Organic)

There will be about 18 inches of new soil.

... and you don't need to add it all at once.
The level of the beds will fluctuate, naturally. Just keep topping it up with garden compost every year to replace the nutrients that the veg removes (I chop up all weeds & foliage, and drop it on the soil as a mulch: it's much quicker than traditional composting)

[Bal]

Hi Guys thanks so much for the advice.
I had already covered the grass with cardboard and it is nearly dead. I couldn't resist so stated to dig up the grass this evening when I got back from work, it is such hard work, I only managed a few square yards. I still have all the lawn turfs that we dug out of the garden around where the beds are, can I just add this back into the beds on top of the cardboard? The soil that this lawn was on is very good. I have been stock piling cardboard so do have lots of it.
I also discovered that the soil at the bottom of the beds is full of stones and there is hardcore under that, do I need to remove these or will it as I hope help with drainage.

There is also a lot of couch grass in it, thats why I started digging it up. Can I leave it in or will it just come up through all the layers?

[kathyd]

You can use your lawn turfs Bal, but put them upside down with their roots sticking up . Our garden is a mass of stones and slate too - usually helps drainage, unless you find a huge piece of horizontal granite in the way of course! Couch grass has come back through our beds, along with lots of other things we didn't pull up properly, but it's much easier to remove it from the raised beds than from the original ground (which was more like an extension of the adjacent farmer's field), so I'm not complaining .

[Two_Sheds]

Couch grass has come back through our beds, ...but it's much easier to remove

Couch is fairly shallow rooting (not really going much deeper than about 6") and if you mulch it with light-blocking materials it will be weakened.
That's what KathyD has done, mulched it with her raised beds

[Two_Sheds]

stated to dig up the grass... it is such hard work

you don't need to dig it up at all.

Read the lasagne link I posted above