Turning turf back into soil?

Rosie Bee

Hello,

Yesterday we took up about 9 sq metres of grassy turf - I'm going to sow wildflowers on what was an area devoid of wildlife (lots of wildlife elsewhere in the garden).

We rolled up the turf and placed it in a white builders' bag. I would have liked to put it on a compost heap or up against a wall to rot down, but we don't have the space.

I'm hoping you will tell me that, with time, if we leave it long enough in the bag, the turf will turn back into soil and the grass will magically die off... will it??? As I say, it's in a white bag so I'm concerned too much light will get in .... What do you think? Obviously I don't want to use chemicals.

Many thanks

RB

chicky

Hi Rosie.  The usual advice is to stack unwanted turf squares- grass side to grass side, root side to root side.  After leaving it for six months (no need to exclude light) you are left with crumbly topsoil.  I don’t see why this shouldn’t work just as well inside a builders bag, but you might want to take it out and restack it like a layer cake to speed up the process.