Best way to remove weeds/garden

[Red_Stafford]

Hi all please see below garden pic



What's the best way to remove all the grass and weeds, I have a dog so don't want to use anything poisonous to her...

My plan is to have a lawn free garden with a decking area at the end and a play area for this kids like the below pic.

 

[kbdiy]

Dig them up.
No I'm not being funny, that is the best way without resorting to weed killer etc. Don't rotovate it either - that just chops the weeds up into smaller bits and they come back even more then before.

 

[munchingB]

section parts of your garden off to keep the kids and dog out and just glyphosate it out of a watering can.

 

[Red_Stafford]

Dig them up.
No I'm not being funny, that is the best way without resorting to weed killer etc. Don't rotovate it either - that just chops the weeds up into smaller bits and they come back even more then before.

The trouble with digging it up besides time and effort is that we have no access to the garden other than through the house as it's a terraced house so we wouldn't be able to get a skip in the garden.

 

[Red_Stafford]

section parts of your garden off to keep the kids and dog out and just glyphosate it out of a watering can.

Is this poisonous to the dog if so how long would be safe to let dog on again and would I need to trim the weeds/lawn down first.

 

[munchingB]

glyphosate is actually meant to be safe for pets and kids as soon as its dried-which on a dry sunny day could be as little as 5 minutes. i wouldnt let my animal eat the grass if thats what yours does.

id do as someone else has suggested and mow it all down as low as possible then wait for the regrowth and poison that. just buy some cheap glyphosate concentrate from wilko or something. generally it is pretty slow to work and often needs a follow up application...or two.

if you are going to put decking over it i would just mow it down poison it and chuck a membrane over it. if youre paving it then then whatever you put on top is going to kill it anyway and anything that grows through any joins can be poisoned too.

im not a fan of using chemicals in the garden and personally i would grab my crazy strimmer and it will hack through the soil even and destroy everything and then hoover it all up with the mower once it has had a while to dry up.

if you have a big tarp even, lay that on top of a section of the garden after some low mowing and that will suppress the weeds enough that you'll be able to dig out the weeds a little more easily.

 

[versioncity]

Easiest way to sort it out given you have no back alley access.

Get a tarp or a load of old carpet (freecycle)

cover the area until early next year.

take the coverings off in jan/feb and dig the whole garden over taking out all the weeds/roots/debris - you'd be surprised how little there will actually be and but it into containers/bin bags and go and dump it. - the garden is not very big and could easily be dug over in a few days.

Then level the soil and either plant grass seed or turf it (if your going to grass seed maybe wait till early spring)

 

[Deleted2797112]

Tarp is fine, don't use carpet.

 

[Bangers123]

Roundup.

Spray on a sunny day and keep the kids and pets off until the following day. 2 weeks later all the plants and grass will be dead and ready to rake up.

 

[WalksWithTurkeys]

Roundup.

Spray on a sunny day and keep the kids and pets off until the following day. 2 weeks later all the plants and grass will be dead and ready to rake up.

That's what I did. An opaque membrane is the next best option but some weeds will survive e.g. bindweed, bramble, maybe dandelions.

 

[LeadFarmer]

Spray with weed killer using a large hand pump sprayer http://www.screwfix.com/p/pressure-sprayer-7ltr/51100, respray a few days later if needed.

When its died back hack it down again with mower, cover with tarp/weed membrane, leave for a couple of weeks, lift tarp and respray any weeds that have regrown

Then lay your new surface - flagstones/bark chip pings etc


Any weed roots that survive can allow the weed to regrow, but if its deprived daylight then it shouldn't.