How can we kill our lawn without chemicals?

[SHRTSASSY]

My DH and I would like to seed a new lawn but the old one hasn't completely died yet. My DH wants to kill the lawn but I don't want to use any chemicals that will stay in the soil since I want to start a produce garden. We live in Northern Cal where it never snows. Any ideas? I would have done a search of the archives but I'm too lazy I guess

[OneTrickPony]

Dig up the old lawn! It isn't that difficult and it is a really good workout. I dug up my lawn last fall (granted, it was only 14 square feet) and built a flagstone and thyme lawn.

If this is impractical, I recommend aerating your lawn very, very well - you can rent an aerator - to make sure the new seeds get a chance at life.

[Chanley]

This is ugly but you could cover it in black plastic for a few weeks. This will prevent light from getting to the existing lawn and will kill it. I have seen folks do this and we have done it in small places.

[SHRTSASSY]

Thanks Pony and Chanley for the great ideas! I'm going to talk to my DH about this and see what he thinks. I'm leaning towards aerating the lawn although it would be more labor intensive.