What to Do With Dug Up Grass

If you spend any amount of time cultivating your lawn and landscaping, it can be disheartening if it gets dug up or even when you need to dig up a section to do something new. No matter how it happens, you want to make the most of dug up grass. Below are several suggestions for what to do with dug up sod from disposal to how to repurpose dug up grass.

What to Do with Dug Up Grass

The best thing to do with dug up grass is either to replant it or compost it.  These activities can help make the most of the grass itself or the nutrients it can provide to your other landscaping efforts. Even if you have a whole yard’s worth of dug up turf, you can compost it to create a rich soil for garden beds or even your new lawn, if you choose to have one.

Potential Uses for Your Dug Up Grass

You might think that there’s very little that dug up grass can be used for, but you’d be wrong. You can just get rid of it, but it can be reused for several different purposes. Here are a few ideas:

How to Dispose of Dug Up Grass

Dug up grass can be disposed of in several ways. Small amounts of grass can usually be broken up and scattered in a similar way to grass clippings or mulched leaves. This keeps the organic matter within your yard. If available in your city, town, or area you may be able to place your dug up sod into food and yard waste bins or drop them off at a recycling center that accepts compost.

How to Compost Dug Up Grass

If you don’t know what to do with dug up turf but do know that you don’t want to throw it away, consider starting a compost pile. All you need is an empty space, a little water, and a sheet of black plastic or a small tarp and something to weigh it down with to get started.

First, apply a little water to the ground. Then begin to stack the turf in sheets as well as you can with the grass side down and the root side up. Continue laying the grass, adding water between layers to help the stack hold together. If you have any leaves, they can also be added in every few layers.

Once all of the sod has been stacked, cover the new compost area with a tarp or the thick, black plastic sheet and weigh it down. The pile does not need to be covered, but doing so will speed up the decomposition process. Depending on the climate and how decomposed you want your compost, your compost should be ready to use in 8 months to 2 years.

Use Excess Sod For Mulch

If you have large sections of ground that you typically add compost, leaves, or bark mulch to, you can use sod as mulch in these areas. Around trees, directly behind brick sections, and under bushes are the ideal regions to use turf for mulch.

Like with the compost method, you should apply water to the area where the sod is going to be placed. If there are any weeds or other pieces of sod here, you don’t need to remove them but you should cut them as short as possible.

Place pieces of sod in a layer over the area, allowing no gaps between the sod pieces. Ensure that the grass is on the “underside” of the sod being used as mulch and that the roots are up. A second layer may be placed on top of the first, following these same steps. When used as mulch, sod does not need to be covered or weighed down.

How to Replant Dug Up Grass

Dug up grass, in the form of small plugs or sod sheets can be replanted easily if any part of the root is still attached. Grass is typically resilient when it comes to reattaching itself to the soil. All you need to do is prepare a bare patch of ground by clearing away other plants, loosening the soil, and adding a small amount of water so that the ground is damp but not wet.

Then you need to break off any large clumps of soil from the roots of the grass you intend to plant so it has even contact with this new patch of ground. Finally, wet the roots of the grass you intend to replant and press the sod firmly, root side down, onto the prepared section of ground.

Use the Dug Up Sod to Create Garden Beds

Sod provides lots of nitrogen to compost piles. It can do the same as a mulch. By combining these two practices, you can bury sod in a garden bed to provide a slow release of nitrogen over a growing season.

First, you want to dig down about a foot into where you intend your garden bed to be. Then you add a little water and place the sod down, in a layer with no gaps. The sod should be placed with the grass blades against the earth and the roots pointed up toward the sky.

Once all of the sod has been set into place, the entire thing should be covered with at least 4 inches of soil, then compacted. Additional compost and other materials can then be added, with another 4 inches of dirt added until the bed is at or just above ground level. Water well and level out as needed.

Waste Not, Want Not – Dug Up Grass Can Keep on Giving

As you can see above. When it comes to asking yourself what you can do with dug up grass, you’re not exactly short of ideas. I personally love reusing things in the garden, and if you’re prepared to put in a bit of time, dug up grass can be used to benefit the rest of your yard.