Question
We have just contracted a firm to "do" our back garden. Measuring 30ft x 60ft, part of the spec is to lay new turf. To my wife's horror, the firm have used spare soil (dug from ther preperation of our patio which they are also doing) to fill up the bumps and dips on the garden. They are now about to put top soil onto all of our existing lawn (which includes many weeds) and will compound that then put lawn turf on top. is this correct? They say that if they rotavate the garden, the weeds will be multiplied and that large stones and rocks will rise to the surface. They have assured us that weeds will not grow but will provide good compost for the new turn on top. Please let me know if this is correct.

Answer
Dear Tony;
EEEEEEEEEEKKKKK!!!!

Ok, true, the weeds that have grown there will compost, but about this time of year, they should be putting out seeds. These will also grow.
Rototilling will do exactly the same thing as burying them will do.
It will bury the little seeds so they can sprout and make new seeds in the spring.
Are you wanting to grow veggies or flowers there?
Depending on where you live, the seeds have probably already dropped.
Fertilizing and using other chemicals will only make them all grow to their grestest extent.
Putting sugar on the soil and watering it in, and using NO fertilizer will keep the beneficial microbes alive, and will work through the winter enriching the soil.
Fertilizers kill these microbes. Weeds love poor soil, and will not thrive in rich soil.
Rototilling will bring up some rocks, but if the rocks are big enough to be a problem, don't worry,,,,, they will break the rototiller blades. LOl
If I were preparing a former problem area, this is what I would do, to start would be to check to see if the soil is loose enough to give good drainage. If it isn't, nothing is going to grow there but weeds, anyway.
Too tight soil, like clay will keep water from penetrating, and all but weeds will die. Roots will not spread in too tight soil. Only the more aggressive roots, such as weeds have, will push through that hard stuff.
If the soil is too tight, you will HAVE to till in some materials to loosen it.
To test for hardness,,,,,
When the soil is not wet from a recent rain, grab a handful of soil, and sqweeze it in your hand. Open your hand,,,,,,,, if it stays in a tight ball, it is not loose enough, if it crumbles completely and does not hold even a ball. it is too loose.
It should keep about 3/4ths of it in a ball, and the rest crumbled into your hand.
To loosen too tight soil, till in some bark mulch, humus and peat moss.
For heavy clay soil I would mix 4 parts bark mulch, 2 parts humus and 1 part peat moss, and till that in to an equal amount of existing soil.
If the soils is not excessively tight, I would cut down the bark mulch to 2 parts.
All weeds, leaves that have dropped etc, I would till in with it. Uou could even beg the raked up leaves from your neighbors and till that in too. It will just make good, rich composted soil for next spring.
I use cedar bark mulch, because cedar repels so many insects, including termites.
When everything was dumped on the soil to begin tilling, I would put down sugar at the rate of 1 pound per 250 to 300 sq.ft. Then till all that up real well, level it our with a garden rake, and that's it.
those beneficial microbes will start working on the soil enrichment.
Some of those weeds are going to come up each spring, until the soil is rich enough to discourage them, about 2 or 3 years, of putting down the sugar every spring and fall, but fewer will come up each year, and they will not last long. they will die out after a few weeks.
After that, your soil will be rich enough that they won't even bother to come up.
You will not have a lifetime of pulling weeds.
I started putting the sugar down the spring of 1997, and I saw fewer weeds after about 2 weeks of mowing, and within 6 weeks, there were no weeds in my yard. Some came up the next spring, but only about half as many. The next year, there were only a dozen or so over my entire yard, and since that,I haven't seen a weed come up.
The weed seeds still blow into and come up in some of my neighbors' yards, but not the ones who have switched to using the sugar.
Beer works, because it has sugar in it. Anything with sugar in it works, but just plain table sugar is cheaper to use, and easier. I just broadcast it by hand. you don;t have to have even coverage, and if you get too much in one spot, it does not burn the grass and plants.
I use organic fertilizer for fruit and flower bearing shrubs and trees, because they need more nutrients to produce. Tilling in the fruit that falls and ruins does the same as adding fertilizer.
Save your kitchen vegetable scraps, and make a compost pile. You can manufacture rish topsoil right in your own back yard. all those nutrients you have been taking out with the garbage, can be feeding your garden.
I use natural means to keep rid of all pests, in my house and outside. I use NO poisons !!!
I have NO insects in my house. Texas is bad for cockroaches. We have the ideal climate all over the state for them to live in. I never see one in my house. I have tons of them in the soil in my yard. they naturally live in the soil, and they are good there, because they aerate even better than earthworms.
My toads, lizards and grass snakes do a better job of keeping rid of unwanted insects that all the pesticides I used to use did. Birds do a lot of that too. I maintain a healthy enviornment for my lawn critters.
Cats don't use my flower beds for a litter box. The only pests that bother me are the squirrels that eat my fruit off my trees, and the birds that eat fruits and vegetables. no matter how many bird feeders we put up, the like our home grown produce.
I know how to keep them off the fruit and veggies too, but i sometimes am too lazy to go out and spray with garlic pepper tea.
any of the natural repellants i use, that you want to know about, just write me. I am more than happy to share.
Since I ent to organics, my Asthma is about 90% better too.
Unless you are disabled, I would do the work yourself. It is not that hard, and the enjoyment you get is more than worth the work. You can rent a tiller by the day, and to till that much area, should take about 1 hour.
Write any time you feel I can help.
Charlotte