On 15/09/2015 08:07, News wrote:

Good morning, and greetings from Aberdeenshire, where the temp was 2.5
at 06.00 this morning!

We have an area of garden at one side of the house which was fallow i.e.
weeds when we moved here 13 years ago, and stayed that way until earlier
this year, when I blitzed it with Glyphosate weed killer. After the
weeds died, we cleared the site, dug it over, raked it thoroughly and
covered with weed control membrane pending a final decision on what
we're actually going to use it for - probably lawn.

However, before covering, I took a sifted wheelbarrow full of the soil
to top up areas elsewhere. The areas where I used that soil immediately
sprouted weeks including nettles, wild grass etc. which suggests that
the soil is full of dormant seeds just waiting for ideal growing
conditions. We are unlikely to take any action until next year now,
but, when the soil is uncovered and a lawn laid, how do we prevent a
million old weed seeds from germinating and taking over? Would turf be
better than seed, or little difference, long term?

Simplest tactic is uncover it in spring and glyphosate the first lot of
weed seedlings that come up after you have disturbed the soil. I'd go
for seeding as I am a cheapskate and if you do it right it looks nicer
than a turf laid lawn (unless you are really good at laying the stuff).

Turf would force the weeds to have to grow through it to reach the light
but would be a lot more expensive. Depends how big the area is but for
my money seed is a lot cheaper if you can stay off it for most of a
season to allow it to get established. Broadleaf specific weedkiller
applied from time to time after the first three months or hand weed the
worst offenders as needed. RHS has a good page on this.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=424

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Regards,
Martin Brown