Weedkiller prior to laying turf? Any suggestions

**BobHop** · 14-04-16, 02:36 PM

I need to sort my garden out. We moved into our hourse last year and the garden was literally a jungle and dump combined. 3 skip loads later and a few solid dauys hard graft digging all the weeds out and leveling the dirt off and I had a nice clear, level garden.

Fast forward 5 months and my garden is around a foot and half deep in broadleaf weeds! Literally covering every inch of the garden - the bastards!!

Ideally within the next month I'd like to get some turf laid or maybe even artificial grass - there's some very realistic stuff out there at the moment.

If I turf the garden I need to 100% kill the weeds off - as digging them out clearly does nothing! Any suggestions on what to use? My garden isn't huge, it measures approx. 13m x 5m.

Alternatively, if I lay artificial grass, would I need to kill the weeds off? Obviously I would cover the garden in some sort of membraine first so the weeds can't grow through - but should I kill them off first? Or could I just cut them down, clear the ground and lay the membraine hoping that the lack of sunlight will lead to there total demise.

Any suggestions welcome!

Cheers!

**M_C** · 14-04-16, 02:42 PM

You can't really get anything other than Roundup (or the same stuff with a different name...!) so that limits your choice of weed killers...

farmguy · 14-04-16, 02:42 PM

I have jad great success with red diesel or just diesel it could have been but that was just for weeds growin threw the pavement slabs

But for urs i would maybe just pull them out an return the soil ??

sent from the land of ulster ✊

**Bud Lightyear** · 14-04-16, 03:01 PM

If you're doing the artificial stuff you should take the weeds down as low as you can with a mower, lay a membrane then a bed of sharp/screeding sand...The weeds won't come through the membrane...If your gonna lay a turf lawn the prep is very important if you want good results...I would mow the tops off the weeds and then apply a strong dose of weedol with a pump sprayer, leave for 2 weeks then apply another dose and leave for a another week. If your soil is good and well drained then get a rotavator on it and churn it over, level the surface with a landscape rake then lay your turf...Once the law is established treat twice a year with evergreen 4 in 1,once in the spring and then again in mid summer don't do this in late summer or autumn or the lawn will continue to grow into winter. Rake out the dead thatch and moss in late autumn or very early spring, don't rake when the law is just coming back after winter this will damage the new shoots...Decide what you want to use the lawn for and buy an appropriate turf there loads on the market from heavy hardwearing use to ornamental...Don't skimp on cheap turf you get really do get what you pay for...Oh and don't bother with seeding it's feckin hard work the keep the birds off it, though ive heard they dye seed now with some funky colours the birds can see...

Regards BL