Creeping Charlie, Plantain, Dandelion, Crabgrass Patch

by Scherrie
(Illinois)

I have a strip of land between my driveway and neighbor's chain link fence that is approximately 3' wide and 15' long. It was infested with creeping charlie, plantain, dandelions, crabgrass, etc. I have pulled everything out. Now--should I lay down some Round-up and let it sit for a couple weeks before doing anything with it? Or should I remove the top 6" of soil? Would laying down a weed barrier cloth be enought to kill the weed seeds that I am sure are still there? I have some spirea bushes and other plants that I want to put there, but I want to be reasonably sure I have gotten most of the weeds. Thanks for your help.

Doug says - first of all Roundup isn't going to help anything if you've already pulled out the weeds. It works by killing weeds not by sterilizing soils.

Second - you can put down a physical barrier, whether it is weed fabric, newspaper or cardboard to prevent the weeds and weed seeds from coming up again.

Plant and then cover the area with your barrier and then mulch over top of the barrier to stop 95% of all weeds. You'll still have to pull some but the majority will be controlled.

You'll not "kill" weed seeds by covering them but you will stop them from germinating and growing (or most of them anyway)

As long as you understand that you wont' be able to cultivate or plant other things without puncturing your barrier you're fine. Shrubs do very well in this kind of setting and as long as you're not trying to grow bulbs or other plants under them, you'll be fine.

Removing soil only takes away your weeds and replaces them with weeds from other fields. Sum zero gain here. :-)

Hope this helps