How to prevent weeds from re-growing?

[frediaz]

I am working on a garden that was neglected fo years. It had weeds 1.5 metres high. I hope there were none of of Japanese things.

My people removed all the overgrowth and old grass plus some of the soil.

What do I need to do to the soil so that the weeds do not grow again?

At this time of the year, what do I put to get the lawn back, turf?

Thanks

 

[Deleted2797112]

It depends what you intend doing with the soil and how much gardening you want to do. There will always be weeds - the seeds are dormant in the soil and they blow in / are brought in by birds etc. If you intend planting the cleared areas, planting as densely as possible and going for ground cover plants will minimise weed growth and you can just pull/hoe any that come through. If you don't want to plant, then lay a weed membrane on the soil and cover it with the decorative mulch of your choice - gravel, bark, etc. Or a compromise solution is lay weed membrane and cut holes to plant through then spread the mulch in the gaps between plants.

It's a good time to lay a turf lawn as long as the ground isn't frozen. It's too late to seed a lawn now.

 

[frediaz]

Hello, I really only want the lawn. Do I need to apply anything to the soil under the turf?

 

[r896neo]

No just dig the soil over thorougly. In a perfect world you should dig it over and leave it for a month then dig out or spray any weeds that come up before turfing but at this time of year weed growth is so slow and limited i'd just rotovate and turf.

Weeds in a lawn are not hard to treat so don't panic if a few appear in spring you can use a selective weedkiller like verdone.

 

[WalksWithTurkeys]

The problem you have is that if you just scraped the crud off the surface, you have not removed the roots, and plants such as Bird Foot Trefoil and bindweed will come back with a vengeance. Leave the garden until there is a good regrowth of weeds, then spray with glyphosate. Leave a month, and respray. Then reseed, leave a few months to establish, and spray with a selective weedkiller that leaves grass.

 

[frediaz]

Thanks, I cannot wait a few months to re-apply the turf as I am going to sell the house and it needs to look good with a lawn. I guess I will follow r896neo's advice.

 

[Deleted2797112]

No just dig the soil over thorougly. In a perfect world you should dig it over and leave it for a month then dig out or spray any weeds that come up before turfing but at this time of year weed growth is so slow and limited i'd just rotovate and turf.

Weeds in a lawn are not hard to treat so don't panic if a few appear in spring you can use a selective weedkiller like verdone.

^^^^ This. When you're digging/rotovating remove any roots that you find.

 

[WalksWithTurkeys]

As said, too late to reseed. And as said, use rotavate first to reduce compaction, then returf.