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Turning weeds into the perfect lawn
Matthew 4
Posts: 2
Hello everyone, Last October I moved into my first house which is a new build so the back garden had no lawn and was just turned over by the builder, now summer is approaching I've started to think about what I'm going to do with the garden which is now full of weeds. Today I removed as much of the weeds as I could and began to turn over the soil but I'm worried that I haven't removed all the weeds. My plan is to get a weed killer and over the next few weeks use the weed killer and keep turning over the soil in the garden until it's all gone before starting to lay a new lawn. Is this a good idea or should i have used the weed killer before turning over the soil? So far I've only turned over half the garden so all may not be lost.. Hopefully. I'm extremely keen on getting into the garden and love having a go at a bit of DIY and enjoy abit of hard work therefore reluctant to get a professional round to do it so any advice is very much appreciated!
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Posts
Let the weeds grow so the weedkiller has something to kill.
In the sticks near Peterborough
Matthew: Just reinforcing the advice above:
If it's a systemic weedkiller it works by being sprayed onto the leaves of the living plant which then, during the natural process of photosynthesis,* takes the poison down into its roots (ie through its whole system) thus killing the plant literally root and branch.
I am presently clearing a whole border of all planting and weeding as I go; so my ground will be very similar to yours Matthew by the time I've finished.
I know from past experience that missed weed roots will try to regenerate in any bare earth I leave, so I'm covering it all with black porous membrane until I'm ready to plant. Any weeds that actually survive that will be sprayed with systemic weedkiller and then, hopefully, dense planting after that will keep the majority of future weeds at bay - or to a minimum.
* Incidentally, don't cover weeds after spraying them with systemic weedkiller because photosynthesis can't take place if the leaves can't get the sun.