Weeds won’t go!

[Esbm2015]

I am hoping you can give me some advice. We’ve tried various weed killers on our front garden - sprays, stuff that goes into the soil to kill at the roots - and still the weeds are resilient. We tried to take many out at the root earlier this year after taking off the membrane which has been down for many years before we moved in. We’re hoping to get rid of the weeds, improve the soil with topsoil then plant new on it but can’t seem to get past the first hurdle. Can anyone offer advice?

You need to identify what type of weeds they are before you decide how to tackle them. Then Google is your friend.

I had this and tried all the weed killers. DH read about vinegar and I used this and they are all dead! Bought big tubs from Costco and can’t believe it worked. Killed huge nettles too.

I've always found pouring boiling water over them to be extremely reliable and safe for everything more than an inch or so away, no residue of course! In lawns, poke down their root with a dibber (or anything that'll make a round 1" hole) and boildrown the bastards.

You may actually find that simply going ahead with improving the soil and planting fresh grass seed and then following a twice-a-week mowing will have the grass outgrow the weeds anyway.

Best stuff I've used is Clinic Ace and get a sprayer. Takes a week or so before you notice them dying but die they do!

It's not cheap but it'll work out better than continuously buying Roundup etc. Don't water it down as much as suggested either

Sodium Hydroxide works very well

If you are planning on ever putting any plants in your garden, then be very careful what you use to get rid of weeds, otherwise you could end up with poisonous residues in the ground (not to mention it being a hazard for local wildlife and water courses).

Basically, you will never get rid of weeds by doing it once, as you are fighting nature. Even if you get rid of the roots, new weeds will seed to replace them.

Your best friend is a hoe. Get rid of the big weeds again, then go out about once a month and hoe all the new weedy growth. You don't particularly need to pick them out as the tiny new weeds will just rot back into the ground. Obviously, you do need to take note of which are your new plants, so you don't hoe them too!! I reckon my front garden takes about half an hour every month or so.

I guarantee you there is no permanent solution - you need to keep on top of them, that's all you can do.

Good luck.

yamadori Exactly , a few weeds are not much in the greater scheme of things when you consider the bees and birds which die all for a few weeds! Boiling water works, weeds are just plants in the wrong place anyway!

The best thing is to put the whole area down to grass maybe with some shrubs and keep cutting\mowing every week , only the grass will survive then.