Weed/old lawn problem

Hi,

I'm not sure if i'm posting in the right place, but here goes.

My girlfriend's house used to have a lawn out the front (before she moved in). The previous owner had done a quick job of trying to kill off the grass, put a layer of felt over the lawn, then what seems like a couple of tonnes of pink stones over that (covering a tarmac path, the grass and flower beds). The lawn now seems to be attempting to make a come back through the stones and looks untidy. As my f/g does not want a full grass lawn (lazyitis + planning to sell in a few months) i was thinking of tidying up the area by recovering the tarmac path and putting edging along the area which was previously flowerbeds and lawn. The flowerbeds are complely empty, however the lawn as mentioned is growing back. What is the most effective way of killing the grass completely and will it require lifting the stones/felt in order to tackle the issue, or is there a weedkiller that can be applied over the stones that will make its way into the ground underneath easily?

Many thanks

Chris

 

I reckon you have two choices on the chemical front (plus the additional choice of "No chemicals"!!)

You can apply a chemical that is persistent. it will kill everything, and it will go on killing everything for 6 months, or more. You won't be ale to plant anything in that spot for a couple of years.

Sodium chlorate is an example of such a total weed killer.

The problem is that if it rains hard, or just "anyway", the chemical may leech sideways and kill other stuff that you would rather prefer keeping. Like your lawn !!

Second up is a "kill-all" weed killer which is neutralised on contact with the soil - so no residual effect. An example would be Roundup (active ingredient = Glyphosphate). You might need to apply this again about 2 - 4 week later to kill anything that you missed the first time, or for whatever reason is still green.

Either of those still leaves the problem that a dead weed, particularly one that was originally large, will be yellow, and look unsightly. You might want to see a"flame thrower" to burn them off, and more quickly assume a look of "normality"

Personally we don't use any long-acting weed killers which are [persistent in the ground,but we do use a lot of Roundup because it is both effective and relatively "safe"

Spraying will be more effective than watering from a watering can. Do NOT get Roundup on ANYTHING you want to keep - so no spraying in windy conditions, etc.

 

As above. ( good advice)

Personally I very rarely use landscape membrane, were a low maintance gravel look is desired (incidentally I hate it!!!) I excavate to 4" or so then compact 2" of mot followed by a 1.5-2" layer of chippings.

The membranes arent actually weedproof and trap leaves and deberis thus creating a haven for surface weed growth.