# Turning lawn into a native tree and shrub planting

> How to smother or lift turf without herbicide, when each method works and how long it takes, how to lay out a new bed, and what to plant in sun or shade.

Published 2026-10-28. Tags: Planting, What to plant. By Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/lawn-to-a-native-planting/

To turn lawn into a bed of native trees and shrubs, mark the bed, kill the grass in place, and plant the trees first with the shrubs around them. Cardboard under mulch, laid in fall, smothers the turf by spring. Plastic does the job over a summer, and a sod cutter lifts the turf for planting at once. Nothing is dug into the soil, the whole bed is mulched, and the new plants need water through their first two summers.

![Flattened cardboard sheets laid in overlapping rows over bare ground beside green lawn, the first layer of a new bed](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/articles/lawn-to-a-native-planting-1-1000.jpg?v=0917f099 "Cardboard laid down to start a sheet-mulched bed, on December 11, 2012. The sheets overlap so that no grass finds a gap, and mulch goes on top.")
*Photo: Natureln, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APr%C3%A9paration_d'une_lasagne.jpg))*

## Lay out the bed first

Shade is the place to start, since grass fails there first:

> "If an area gets less than 50 percent open sunlight or less than four hours of sunlight per day, it is much too shady for turfgrass to grow well." (NC State Extension, *Selecting and Managing Lawn Grasses for Shade*)

Map the sun before choosing plants, watching each spot through the day and the seasons. Part shade means about 3 to 6 hours of sun a day, and full shade less than 3. Morning sun is gentler than the hotter afternoon sun.

Mark the outline with a garden hose for curves, or with stakes and a tape for straight sides, and spray it with marking paint. Then dig the edge 4 to 6 inches deep, cutting at an angle from both sides of the line. The cut edge defines the bed and holds the cardboard in place.

Keep each tree at least half its mature crown width from the house and never closer than 15 feet, as [trees not to plant near a house](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/trees-not-to-plant-near-a-house/index.html.md) explains. Before the grass goes, stake each tree's spot and look at it from the windows and the drive, where its crown will one day stand.

## Killing the grass without herbicide

Each method has its season and its wait:

| Method | Cover | Start | How long | Plant |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Sheet mulch | Cardboard under 4 to 6 inches of mulch | Fall | 4 to 6 months | The next spring |
| Smothering | Black plastic, plywood or 6 inches of wood chips | Late spring | At least 2 months | Once the grass is dead |
| Solarizing | Clear plastic over wet soil | The hottest weeks of summer | 4 to 6 weeks, up to 8 where cool or cloudy | As soon as the plastic comes off |
| Cutting the sod | None: the turf is lifted 1 to 1½ inches thick |  |  | At once |

### Sheet mulch

Mow the grass as short as the mower allows, and water it. Lay corrugated cardboard with its tape and staples removed, or newspaper 10 sheets thick, and overlap the sheets 8 to 10 inches. Tuck the edges into the cut edge and wet the sheets as you go. Cover them with leaves, pine needles, grass clippings or wood chips to a total depth of 4 to 6 inches.

![Grass clippings spread in a thick layer over cardboard on a long new bed beside a mown lawn, in afternoon sun](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/articles/lawn-to-a-native-planting-2-1000.jpg?v=7df40fa5 "Grass clippings spread over cardboard on a new bed, on May 4, 2016. Leaves, pine needles, clippings or wood chips build the mulch to 4 to 6 inches.")
*Photo: Natureln, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AMontage_d'une_lasagne.jpg))*

Then the bed rests until planting time:

> "Then you let your new garden bed rest for a few months before you plant into it. Over the winter is perfect." (Penn State Extension, *Sheet Mulching: Lawn to Garden Bed in 3 Steps*)

In spring, scoop the mulch aside where each plant goes and set the roots in the soil below, not in the mulch.

Linda Chalker-Scott of Washington State University counts paper and cardboard sheet mulch among the myths of permanent plantings. Voles nest under the sheets, and the paper sheds water once it dries and shuts out air on wet, poorly drained soil. She saw more shrubs die in restoration plantings mulched with sheets than beside them under wood chips. So use cardboard only to kill the grass ahead of planting, skip it on wet ground, and cut it away from each planting hole so no sheet lies against a stem.

### Smothering and solarizing

To smother the grass without cardboard, cover it with black plastic, plywood, 6 inches of wood chips, or newspaper 20 sheets thick under wood chips. Lay the cover in late spring and leave it at least two months. The method suits areas of a few thousand square feet or less. Once the grass is dead and the soil dry, lift the cover and rake away the dead thatch.

![Two low beds of soil sealed under clear plastic sheeting on bare, sandy ground, with green grass growing around them](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/articles/lawn-to-a-native-planting-3-1000.jpg?v=8945032e "Soil sealed under clear plastic to solarize it, on December 21, 2016. Clear plastic traps the sun's heat in the soil and kills the weeds and their seeds near the surface.")
*Photo: RAHUL143, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASOIL_SOLARIZATION.jpg))*

Solarizing bakes the turf under clear plastic, which traps more heat than black. Wet the soil a foot deep, bury the plastic's edges in a trench 4 to 6 inches deep, and leave it through the hottest 4 to 6 weeks of summer. It takes up to 8 weeks where the weather is cool, windy or cloudy, and in shade it may not work. Grasses with deep runners can come back. When the plastic comes off, plant without turning the soil more than 2 inches deep, which would bring live weed seed up.

### Cutting the sod

To plant at once, cut the sod into strips with a spade, undercut them and lift them 1 to 1½ inches thick, or lift the turf with a mechanical sod cutter. Plant the bare soil right away. A herbicide such as glyphosate kills turf in one to two weeks, but it comes last here, since [weed killers can harm the trees nearby](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/herbicide-damage-on-trees/index.html.md).

## The soil: test it, and add nothing

A soil test gives the pH and the lime the soil needs, which tells whether acid-soil plants such as the blueberries will thrive. Take slices 6 to 8 inches deep from 8 to 10 spots across the bed and mix them for one sample. A kit comes from a county extension office or a garden center.

Add nothing to the soil. Each planting hole is filled back with the soil that came out of it, and no amendment goes in. Choose plants for the ground you have, and let the mulch on top build the soil as it breaks down.

## Plant the trees first, then the shrubs

The trees go in first, since they need the biggest holes and set the shade the shrubs will grow in. Fall planting has the edge over spring: the leaves lose less water, roots grow readily, and fall rains help. Clear the grass from every planting spot, since sod competes hard with young roots, and northern bayberry in particular competes poorly with established plants.

These grow in a lawn bed in sun or part shade:

| Plant | Moisture | Spacing, feet | Zones | Height, feet |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Black chokeberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-chokeberry/index.html.md) | Dry to wet | 4 | 3–8 | 3–6 |
| [Downy serviceberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/downy-serviceberry/index.html.md) | Average | 10 | 4–9 | 15–25 |
| [Eastern redbud](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/eastern-redbud/index.html.md) | Dry or average | 15–20 | 4–9 | 20–30 |
| [Northern bayberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/northern-bayberry/index.html.md) | Dry to wet | 4 | 3–7 | 5–10 |
| [Winterberry holly](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/winterberry/index.html.md) | Average or wet | 5 | 3–9 | 6–12 |

These take sun, part shade or shade:

| Plant | Moisture | Spacing, feet | Zones | Height, feet |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Arrowwood viburnum](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/arrowwood-viburnum/index.html.md) | Dry to wet | 6 | 2–8 | 5–10 |
| [Flowering dogwood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/flowering-dogwood/index.html.md) | Average | 15 | 5–9 | 15–30 |
| [Spicebush](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/spicebush/index.html.md) | Average or wet | 6 | 4–9 | 6–12 |
| [Sweet pepperbush](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sweet-pepperbush/index.html.md) | Average or wet | 4 | 4–9 | 4–8 |
| [Witch hazel](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/witch-hazel/index.html.md) | Average | 10 | 3–8 | 12–20 |

Several need company to fruit. In spicebush, winterberry and northern bayberry, male and female plants are separate, so plant three to five spicebush and five bayberries for berries. One male winterberry within 50 feet pollinates a group of females.

The last layer is the ground: ferns and woodland wildflowers such as trilliums and violets, which we do not grow. On acid soil in shade, [box huckleberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/box-huckleberry/index.html.md) makes a slow evergreen ground cover.

## Mulch and water for two summers

Spread 2 to 3 inches of wood chips or leaves over the whole bed, pulled back from every stem. [Mulch around a tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/mulch-around-a-tree/index.html.md) turns grass into a ring for one tree, and this bed is that ring widened to hold every plant.

Blue Whale Trees ships its saplings bare-root or potted, and the [watering calculator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/watering/index.html.md?kind=shrub&stock=bare-root&soil=clay) takes either. Set to a bare-root shrub with a half-inch stem in clay soil, it gives half to three quarters of a gallon at each watering. That comes daily for two weeks and then less often, for about two years until the shrub is [established](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/glossary/index.html.md#establishment-period).

## A starter plan

- **A sunny bed:** one downy serviceberry with three black chokeberries and five northern bayberries around it.
- **A shady bed:** one flowering dogwood with three spicebush and three sweet pepperbush beneath it.
- **Your own spot:** the [tree finder](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-finder/index.html.md?size=shrub&sun=part&moisture=average) lists the shrubs we grow for your sun and moisture.
- **An edible bed:** [a native food forest](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/a-native-food-forest/index.html.md) sets out the layers of nut trees, fruit trees and berry bushes.
- **Both plans:** [put them on a request list](https://bluewhaletrees.com/list/#items=downy-serviceberry:1,black-chokeberry:3,northern-bayberry:5,flowering-dogwood:1,spicebush:3,sweet-pepperbush:3), keep the one for your bed, and we reply with what is ready and current pricing.

## Common questions

### How do I kill grass to make a planting bed?

Smother it under cardboard and 4 to 6 inches of mulch in fall for a spring planting, or under black plastic from late spring for at least two months. To plant at once, cut the sod off 1 to 1½ inches deep.

### How long does cardboard take to kill grass?

Four to six months under 4 to 6 inches of mulch, so a bed laid in fall is ready to plant in spring.

### Do I have to remove grass before planting trees and shrubs?

Yes, from the bed or at least around each plant, since sod competes hard with young roots. Clearing it also leaves room to dig the hole and spread the mulch.

### What can I plant instead of grass in the shade?

Understory shrubs such as spicebush, witch hazel and sweet pepperbush, with flowering dogwood as a small tree. Grass thins below about four hours of sun a day, where these do well.

## Sources

- [Sheet Mulching: Lawn to Garden Bed in 3 Steps](https://extension.psu.edu/sheet-mulching-lawn-to-garden-bed-in-3-steps): Penn State Extension (Constance Schmotzer and the Master Gardeners), with *Meadows and Prairies: Wildlife-Friendly Alternatives to Lawn*, *Renovation of Lawns*, *Soil Testing* and *Forest Layers: The Understory*: the hose, stakes and marking paint, the edge dug 4 to 6 inches deep, cardboard or 10 sheets of newspaper overlapped 8 to 10 inches and wetted, mulch 4 to 6 inches deep, a fall bed resting four to six months, planting into the soil, the quotation, sod lifted 1 to 1½ inches thick and planted at once, smothering under black plastic, plywood, wood chips or newspaper from late spring for two months on a few thousand square feet, glyphosate's one to two weeks, the mechanical sod cutter, what a soil test reports and how to sample, and the ferns, trilliums and violets of a forest floor.
- [Soil Solarization for Gardens & Landscapes](https://ipm.ucanr.edu/home-and-landscape/soil-solarization-for-gardens-landscapes/): University of California Statewide IPM Program: clear plastic trapping more heat than black, soil wetted 12 inches deep, edges buried in a trench 4 to 6 inches deep, four to six weeks in the hottest weeks and up to eight in cool, windy or cloudy places, shade, perennials with deep rhizomes, and cultivation less than 2 inches deep afterward.
- [The Myth of Paper-Based Sheet Mulch](https://wpcdn.web.wsu.edu/wp-puyallup/uploads/sites/403/2015/03/newspaper-mulch.pdf): Washington State University (Linda Chalker-Scott): voles nesting under sheet mulch, sheets that turn water-repellent when dry and seal out water and air on wet soil, more shrub deaths in restoration areas than under wood chips, and sheet mulch kept out of permanent plantings.
- [How to Plant Trees and Shrubs](https://mortonarb.org/plant-and-protect/tree-plant-care/plant-care-resources/how-to-plant-trees/): The Morton Arboretum: sod removed from the planting area because it competes, backfill of the soil taken out with no amendments, and fall planting with less water lost through the leaves, ready root growth and fall rains.
- [Selecting and Managing Lawn Grasses for Shade](https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/selecting-and-managing-lawn-grasses-for-shade): NC State Extension: the quotation on turfgrass in less than 50 percent sunlight or four hours a day.
- [Gardening in the shade](https://extension.umn.edu/garden-and-home/yard-and-garden/gardening-in-minnesota/gardening-in-the-shade): University of Minnesota Extension: light watched through the day and seasons, milder morning sun, part shade as about 3 to 6 hours of sunlight and full shade as less than 3.

## Related

- Next step: [Open the tree finder for shrubs](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-finder/index.html.md?size=shrub&sun=part&moisture=average)
- [Mulch around a tree: how deep, how wide, how far from the trunk, and what rock, fabric and rings do](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/mulch-around-a-tree/index.html.md)
- [Native hedges, screens and windbreaks: which trees to use and how far apart to set them](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-hedges-screens-and-windbreaks/index.html.md)
- [What to plant under a big tree: native shrubs for shade, and how to plant without hurting the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/what-to-plant-under-a-big-tree/index.html.md)
- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)