I bought my house about two years ago, and some of the flower beds that the original owner had put in the garden are now completely overgrown with weeds. I would like to remove the weeds and the flower beds entirely, and replace them with grass.
What's the best/most logical order of operations? Should I dig out the weeds and plant grass seed? What other steps would be required? Should I go with sod to prevent the weeds from growing back over the grass? If I use weed killer (like Roundup), will that prevent the grass from growing in the future?
Best Answer
I had a similar issue in my back yard (the whole thing). It was just weeds. I killed all the weeds with a dose or two of Roundup and had the entire 7000+ sqft tilled up. I then raked it flat and seeded most of it. It now has less weeds than my front lawn which received sod prior to moving in. This was new construction, and the sod was part of the package.
If I had to do just a flowerbed, or the whole yard again, I'd vote for doing it the same way again.
Just be sure to wait a week or two after applying the Roundup so it works it's magic and the weeds are dried up completely. This also aids in tilling it, by hand or machine. The Roundup should not last long on barren soil and will not affect the seed after a couple of weeks.