Q: I want to start a vegetable garden in a pasture with bermudagrass. I want to go ahead and plow it up now and add some leaves and compost to sit over the next few months, but feel I need to kill the bermudagrass first. I would like something organic to kill the grass. Do you have any suggestions?

A: You have a world of education and work before you! The most important thing you will learn is how difficult it is to kill bermudagrass. But I know you’re smart because you thought about killing it before you planted, rather than afterward.

I would not plant a garden until I was sure that all the bermudagrass was dead, and that will take at least three months.

Here’s what I’d do:

1. Identify the spot where you want to plant. Double its size just in case you decide to expand your garden in the future. Mark a perimeter twenty feet outside the boundaries of the plot.

2. Wait until the bermuda is fully green this spring. Spray the whole plot thoroughly with Roundup ProǗ