Help - Lots of weeds and need a new lawn

Hi.

This is the first time I'm posting and hope i am posting in the right section.

Awhile ago my dad dug up the turf we had to make it level and planned to reseed or relay the grass but my dad being my dad hasn't got round to it and its been over a year now . i have dug the weeds out and managed to level the soil but due to the weather not being the best im back to sqaure one i have lots of weeds. my question is can i use weed killer to kill all the weeds in the soil? is there another way to get rid of these weeds? If I use weed killer how long do i have to leave it before I can either put seeds down or use ready to lay lawn?

Please help I want my back garden to have grass again.

Thanks

Raj

 

You can use a non-residual weedkiller - it is neutralised on contact with the soil, so basically you can sow seed straight afterwards (well, best to wait a day or two for the weed killer to be absorbed). Generally that type of weedkiller is based on Glyphosate (such as "Roundup"). It takes 2 weeks to get down into the roots and start working, so the general advice is apply Glyphosate based weedkiller, wait two weeks, make a second treatment for any bits you missed / didn't die, wait two more weeks and then cultivate / sow / plant. That's quite a long time to wait for a lawn though ...

Resolva is a Glyphosate based weedkiller which also has other chemicals in it which desciate the leaves, so you will be able to see them go brown within a day or two - and thus know if you missed any bits. Whether you need to leave it 2 weeks before cultivating (to have the best uptake to the roots, where it then kills the plants, I'm not sure).

If you just have annual weeds, from seeds, rather than pernicious weeds coming up from old roots then you could just hoe them off, they will die in the sun.

If you are in a hurry for a lawn then turf will be faster (its getting late to sow grass seed - the later you leave it the more watering it is going to need during the summer ... but maybe that isn;t a bother for you?)