My patch of garden (flat) is full of thistles. BIG thistles. We want to turf it. DH says to get weedkiller for the thistles first - is he MAD?

[MamaG]

I hate weedkiller and nasty chemicailly stuff

my DC are going to be playing in that bloody gardne FGS

is he right? What is the best way to get rid of the thistles to ensure they don't come back when we turf it?

Weedkiller is a bit lazy but what I'd probably do.

If you're re-turfing, you have to pull out all the weeds first, turn the soil over and then leave it for a good couple of weeks to let the rest of the weeds come up, then repeat the weeding until it's clear. Then you can re-seed or re-turf.

at what i'd prob do

Ah bugger. I hate gardening and he works long hours in a physical job, last thing he's going to want to do is start weeding!

Thanks biwi

you will just mow them off as they grow when you mow your grass, so evenutally they won't be able to regenerate.

We had a patch of ground with zillions of bulbs in which we turfed and we just mow it off, eventually they will give up.

distilled vinegar is meant to be a good weedkiller if you don't want chemicals, spray it on and keep applying til you kill the weeds

I paid for a company to come and do mine - and they were very reasonable, if that's an option for you?

here

Thanks all. Ithink my garden-virgin-ness is shining through isn't it

I have bought the evil weedkiller. I will go apply when BabyG goes to sleep (although when that will be I don't know, this muggy weather is not agreeing with him!)

Roundup or another glyphosate (sp?) based weedkiller kills the weeds but doesn't effect the soil in any way.

Thanks bramshott - I went to our builders merchants and had a good chat with the bloke

I'm always in there asking silly Qs, they are used to me

I got some "safe with dc and animals and won't fuck your soil" stuff and a 10L watering can

I must dig out my wellies and get cracking. In a minute. After I just check Active convos....