Weeds on Builders Soil - Temporary Fix until September when Seeded

TattyMac

Hello, Can anyone help please I've never had a garden before. My house has been renovated and the builder put 30 m x 10 m of trench soil all around the house. It was bare but now weeds are taking over. This is a huge area that will be renovated and grass seeded in September. What can I do until September to keep the weeds down? I've read about woven ground cover but that will cost hundreds and a bit extravagant for a few months use. Is the ground too hard this time of year to renovate and would that make any difference? What should I do please folks?

TattyMac

Sorry I should have said 50 m x 30 m

Bigger!

Lizzie27

Buy a strimmer and just keep cutting the weeds down. Do it regularly as soon as new growth comes through and with a bit of luck, they might just give up the ghost. Strimmers are not that expensive and come in electric or battery versions. Most garden centres or DIY stores sell them. The better ones hopefully will have somebody to advise you on which to buy. 

TattyMac

Thanks Lizzie. That sounds like fun as well.

JennyJ

The options are 1.cover it to keep the light out (can be done cheaply eg with sheets of thick cardboard or thick opaque plastic or old carpet, but wouldn't look very nice) or 2. hoe it regularly to take off the weeds while they're still tiny seedlings. Either way you should pull or dig out any big weeds first, roots and all.

Rotovating would turn in the current weeds but could also chop up their roots into little bits and with some things (eg dandelions) each bit grows into a new plant, which would be storing up trouble for the future.

TattyMac

I would love to pull them out by the roots Jenny but that would be a big job to do whilst moving in and going to work. I've lifted some of the large thistles like that and I think they start under rock below. It's open ground and on a hill as well. Anything on the ground that's sheet like will end up wrapped around the neighbours horses. It's a big area 50 m x 10 m. A lot of carpet that.

JennyJ

I can't think of anything else without resorting to weedkiller, which would leave you with ugly dead weeds. Sorry! Maybe someone else will have a better idea.

Guernsey Donkey2

Hoeing regularly would be my choice.  30 minutes a week would surely be enough to keep the weeds in check - raking and then taking the time to remove the raked weeds. Do this when the soil is reasonably dry, it will be much easier and with less chance of compacting the soil as you walk on it.

Dovefromabove

Just make sure the weeds don’t produce seeds ... there's a gardening saying “1 years weeds = 7 years’ seeds” so whether you strum, now or hoe, just stop them seeding. 

Good luck and let us know how you get on 😊 

TattyMac

Thanks Jenny. Good advise but I didn't give the full story about moving in as well, but long questions can drive people away.

After reading a Bob Flowerdew post he said use old scaffolding poles to hold down weed cover. Using carpet then could work but I don't know where to find 50 m x 10 m of used carpet, and afterwards the disposal of soggy carpet could be a problem.

TattyMac

The problem with hoeing is the hoe simply bounces off. The soil is builders fill. So it's been compressed by the digger. Add to that the summer dryness and we have a weed fortress.