How do I get rid of a large patch of grass?

Cut it as short as you possibly can and cover with cardboard or even layers of newspaper, wet those down and cover heavily with mulch or weigh down with bricks, etc. Good to do in the summer when the sun is hot- leave it til all is brown and dead (not just yellow). Besides digging with a shovel, there are also sharp hoes available to take out weeds- though it's physical work- seems you'll need to take out roots regardless of your method, to save the soil....

You can cover it with newspaper, cardboard, landscaping plastic, a tarp or whatever, but it will take time for the grass to die from lack of sunlight. You could use something like the grass and weed killer, it will work faster, just find one that has a short wait period before you can plant, there are some that it only a few days at most. Till the area and amend the soil with compost or garden or potting soil to riches up the soil for your flowers to grow in. You can also use vinegar or boiling water, but may take a few applications to kill the roots. The vinegar will also eliminate many of the good things out of the soil for quite a while. You could try tilling the grass and picking out the clumps of grass that you can get, but you may have some pop back up. I hope this helps you, Lori!

I had to start my yard over last year. Since I have pets and visiting children, I will not use chemicals. I used plain old white vinegar. Took 2 applications, then my gardener cut the old grass out with a sod cutter. Amended the existing soil and then planted. Smothering for a few weeks and then digging out is another way to go too.