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Best way to remove weeds from soil?

cleary_19hCh243Ycleary_19hCh243Y Posts: 2
in Tools and techniques
Hi all! 

I need to remove a vast amount of weeds from a customers garden who wants it returning to just soil. Would a scarifier do the job for this and leave me with a minimal amount to pick out by hand or would I be best just attacking it with a rake maybe? 

Any and all answers welcome! 

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 86,174
    edited June 2022
    I'd dig it over with a fork and pick out all the weeds, roots and all.  It looks like about a day's work. 

    You could spray with Round-up (glyphosate) leave ten days or so for the weeds to die, and then dig it over .......... but if you've got to dig it over anyway you might as well do the job properly.

    Whatever you do ... don't use a rotavator ... it'll just chop the roots up and every bit of root left behind will regrow ... you customer will not be happy with that. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 54,029
    I'd use weedkiller on that.
    You wouldn't get them out by raking/scarifying anyway - it would just remove top growth, at best, and leave all the roots of the perennial ones, so it would look the same within a month or so. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 14,381
    Yes, I am in the weed killer brigade for that too.
    If you leave the soil bare, the weeds will soon be back though.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 54,029
    Yes - leaving it bare just means more will seed in. 
    Is there a reason it's being left bare? Even if there's no plants being put in, a thick mulch of something like bark would help keep weeds at bay for a little while.
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • cleary_19hCh243Ycleary_19hCh243Y Posts: 2
    Brilliant, thank you all for your suggestions! I'll pick up a massive bottle of weed killer today and get it down before I attend in the next couple of weeks. I was going to suggest to her having a weed membrane laid and stones/bark on top of that as it would look a million times better than with just soil.

    Thanks again guys much appreciated! 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 86,174
    You don't need a massive bottle.  Just read the instructions and get the dilution right.

    It'll still need weeding regularly I'm afraid ... even with a membrane and stones/bark on top.  Weeds drift in the air and land and take root on surfaces like that.  

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • bcpathomebcpathome Posts: 1,256
    If you do manage to get it totally cleared(and good luck doing that job) I would make sure that the customer is aware that leaving it just as cleared soil is not an option.The weeds will reseed in a trice unless more planting or something is done PDQ .
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 9,649
    There are probably loads of weed seeds already in there waiting to germinate. It will be an ongoing job to keep it weed-free, not a one-off.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
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