Are you going to be organic, or do you mind using Round up to kill the grass? Personally, I would use round up, let the grass die then use your machine to till the ground. If you can score some manure and spread it on the ground this fall, it should be safe for planting in come springtime. Which area of the province do you live in? Here on Vancouver Island, we haven't had any rain of consequence since May so trying to till at this time of year would be impossible. I enjoy this forum too -- it's nice to talk to people who have similar climates.

Hi Dotty,

Thanks for the reply. I am in the Fraser Valley. Although we have had little rain, our pasture is quite green - so the grass has grown quite well.

I believe we could get some manure for sure - should not be that hard to find around here :). I also have a small tractor with a 3pt hitch - so we were looking at buying a tiller that would go on the back of it.

As for round-up. We have contemplated going organic - but we are still trying to figure it all out. We are such newbies when it comes to gardening!!! But we LOVE the rewards.

Curt

Do you know or can you find out what kind of "grass" you have growing there?
It may respond to mowing and then turning under, and then covering with compost/ manure before the winter.
But some "grasses" will only grow more rampant if you chop up their roots- with every rootlet sprouting.

You may be able to kill it off in this recent heat by watering it then covering with a huge tarp to, in effect, cook it.

Hi Plantknitter,

I have no way to tell what grass is growing there (I guess I could take it to Art Knaps or something like that). I would say it is a variety of grasses - because some is super tall and some is low. I would think there are lots of weeds as well - it is a "true" farm pasture - hahah.

I can definately mow it. The previous owner used his ride on lawn mower to do all 5acres.

We thought about laying the black plastic over it. And yes, with our recent sunny days, it wouldn't take long to kill it all, then turn it.

Thanks for the ideas.

What kind of soil do you have?

If you kill the grass this fall, are you going to leave the bare ground exposed over the winter? If so, you will lose nutrients by leaching; weeds will sprout and grow over winter in the bare ground; if the area is sloped, you could get erosion; if there is nothing growing in the soil next spring, it will take forever for it to dry out enough to till. Plants lose a lot of water through transpiration from the leaves. Without plants, the only way for soil to dry out is by evaporation from the surface.

On the other hand, if you kill the grass now, then till and improve the soil and make raised beds, and then cover the plot with black plastic over the winter, you will probably have workable soil very early in spring.

If you don't want to cover the soil over the winter, then I would suggest that you leave the grass in until next spring. Wait until the soil is dry enough to work, then kill the grass with Roundup or with black plastic, then till and make raised beds. The way our weather has been, you won't be ready for a garden until early July using this approach (assuming you have heavy soil).

No matter how you do it, when you finally clear the ground and dig it up, you are going to get a huge number of weed seeds germinating. I recommend that you do not start planting until you have killed these seedlings. Let them germinate for a few weeks, then kill them by covering with black plastic for a couple of weeks. Then when you are ready to plant, minimize the disturbance of the soil surface, so you don't bring another batch of weed seeds to the soil surface. If you plant before you have dealt with this weed problem, your summer isn't going to be much fun.

Novices ALWAYS underestimate the amount of work involved in gardening. And let's face it, that spring gardening fever is gone by summer. My observation is that novice gardeners will often abandon weedy gardens and let the weeds go to seed. This is really dumb, because the seeds make the weed problem ten times worse the following year. If you decide to give up, kill the whole patch with black plastic or Roundup. Don't let the weeds go to seed. And you need to control weeds in the adjoining area, so their seeds don't blow into the garden area. If you don't take precautions, you are going to be a slave to the weeds.

For my approach to improving heavy soil, see the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: improving clay soil

Personally, I'd start smaller. You can grow a huge amount of veggies in a ten by twenty plot rather than taking on one that is that big. 100 x 50 may seem small compared to the pasture but in reality that is huge for a garden. You'll battle weeds constantly. Why not get your feet wet with a smaller plot at least at first?

I always seem to be stealing more pasture from my horses for flower beds or my husbands garden. I agree that 100 by 50 is huge to start with. Are you going to make part of it for permanent plantings like berrys? If you have had horses in your pasture take a walk and see where they have been pottying . Horses will usually pick one or two spots to go in . That makes it easy to rake it into a pile and move to your garden area. Stables around here always have free manure available(and it usually has sawdust in it) and this is a great time of year to go get it and let it compost over the winter. If your ground is heavy clay add manure sawdust and sand and till it in. If your not going organic round up is wonderful. Once the ground is amended and tilled its easy to rake up into mounds or rows. The mounds help keep the plants up out of the really wet mud in our rainy side of the state. Depending on your drainage they are not a have to do though. If your on a slope you could get away without them.

I like the raised beds because they make it so much easier to weed and tend your plants. Much easier on the back.