Thanks, all. I used a combination of methods - digging up one square foot at a time with a shovel in those area where I wanted to plant right away or if the soil level was too low, smothering with newspaper, soil and compost to create a raised area or to level out a slope on those area that I was able to leave over the winter, and using roundup in just a few spots where I wanted to kill the grass, but I was not ready to plant yet and did not want the bare soil to erode.
Renee - do you have relatives in Sacramento? You are welcomed any time!
Hetty - a few inches here and there is all you need to eventually end up with none.
My original goal was just to create this small raised bed for a peony plant that I bought a couple of years ago. At the beginning, I had no intention of tackling the whole lawn because I thought it would be too daunting.
