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Janet · 15-09-2015, 01:21 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening

In article ,
says...

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?

You could uncover it over winter, let the surface weed seeds germinate
in autumn/spring, hand-dig out any germinated taproot weeds like
dandelion and dock, then hit the area again with glyphosate or a flame
gun right before sowing lawn seed in late spring. Giving the lawn a head
start.

However, if you're going to lay turf for the lawn, remember most
weeds need light to germinate, so turf itself will defeat germination of
many seeds on or below the soil surface.

Whichever you do, only perennial weeds will survive regular lawn
mowing, of which some are rather attractive in a lawn IMO (clover, self
heal, daisy) Those which are less desirable (docks, dandelion,
plantain, coarse grass) can be either winkled out by hand or killed with
a spot weedkiller.

Janet.