Do i need to sieve the soil?

[letsjog]

Complete newbie gardener over here!

We have some rather large planting borders to make use of. We've had them put in over a year ago but due to a few different disruptions only just getting around to planting.
I put 2 lavender plants in last year and they are coming back again with no help from me since I planted them so that's nice.
I've turned all the soil over the last 2 days and broken up and "chopped up" bigger chunks of soil with the shovel and focused on digging up the weeds with their roots from around the edges and where they came up, they were all fairly small and sparse but some with quite thick deep roots - probably only so few as last summer DH used some strong weed killer on all the borders and everything died. I've also removed the bigger pieces of stone as I went.

From what I've researched it seems like we have clay soil if it helps. Should I sieve it all through before going ahead and planting any bulbs/seeds in?
It seems like a mammoth task but not sure if it's vital so wanted to ask some more experienced mnetters before going through with it.

Just break up the clods where you are actually planting. It would also help to mix in some compost. Leave the other lumps and the weather will break them up.

Before you go planting, what was the strong weed killer you used on the whole bed? I'd be concerned that the chemicals would still be in the soil and therefore scupper your plans. You might need to dig it over more / add in fresh topsoil before it's "plantable" again.

@Momniscient the lavender was put in after the weed killer and it's doing fine. Not sure exactly what it was but I made sure to go spade deep when turning over each part so I hope that's fine and turned it multiple times.

DP seems to think we need to sieve it all in case there's any roots but there wasn't much weeds there to start off with...

Seedlings need the soil broken up to a "fine tilth", ie all lumps removed. Bulbs will cope OK with what you've done so far, as will larger plants.

See if DH remembers the brand name of the weedkiller he used, then we can advise you better. And ask him what weed roots he's concerned about.

@MereDintofPandiculation he can't remember. To be honest I think he is saying it needs sieving just because he thinks that's the "procedure" . He's a complete novice with any type of gardening too.

I have mostly bulbs and a cardboard box shake and grow (or something) which is like a mix of wildflower seeds which are bee friendly so nothing fancy.

I'm currently looking for a few shrubs etc but the instructions on the bulbs say they should be planted Feb-March to flower in the summer.

Can you remember how they died? If it was a slow process - ie a few days with no signs, before they all went yellow and died, then it's likely he used glyphosate, which is a systemic weedkiller, ie it's absorbed into the plants system and kills the whole plant, roots and all, but it's inactive in soil and so you can replant.

If when you're digging in the soil, you notice thickish roots - anything thicker than the ink tube of a biro - take it out. Thin fibrous roots won't be a problem.

Sieving is usually done to take out the stones.

From what I can remember they all just died kind of like @MereDintofPandiculation described.
Hopefully that's good.

As mentioned I planted the lavender after the weed killer was put on and that's doing fine.

I dug up a few more stubborn weeds which were closer to the fence/stone wall and had some stubborn roots which I made sure to remove too. There was a tiny bit of moss which just got broken up and nothing else really - biggest weed was maybe 10cm.

I removed what stones I could spot and some fairly big ones too.
I'm itching to plant

It sounds like you're good to go!

Most of the weeds you’ll get are from seeds floating in. The best way to resist them is not to make the soil too nice on top! So only make nice fine soil where you are planting small seedlings. Then add some mulch to stop weeds seeding.

Lower down the soil is better if not broken up too much as it destroys the structure - google “no dig gardening”. It’s mostly for veg but the principles hold for flowers too.

If you DH sieves the soil, all the tiny bits of weed which are too tiny to see will go “goody” and will be up before you know it. Clay soil is usually nutritious which means weeds and plants both do well. Just rake it over to bring any big stones to the surface. As you plant dig a hole put in some good quality compost and pop in your plant. Surround it with a mulch of gravel as this will suppress the weeds, stop the slugs and snails from dining on you plants and retain the moisture in the soil. Over the seasons this gravel will go down into the soil to help with drainage.

The only time to sieve is you are sowing tender seeds and it is bit late in the year for that.

God don’t sieve it. That’s gardening from hell. And totally unnecessary.

You’ve done enough, just plant stuff, add some mulch or compost depending on what plants your putting in.