I have a patch of weeds on my front lawn about 2'x3' which I would like to cover in sod. I tried pulling the weeds and other plants but they just keep coming back. I want to solve this problem soon so I can lay some new sod over this spot. I bought some killex but am hesitant to use it because I have kids. I heard you can cover the area and anything under it would die. Do you use newspaper or plastic to cover and how long do you have to leave it there? or should I just killex, anyone know?
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If you are going to patch your lawn with sod, I would just take a straight edge spade and dig this area right out as deep as 5 -6 inches if possible. This will remove your weeds, their seeds, and roots....add some new black garden soil, up to an inch from existing grass level. Tamp down well, add some granular starter fertilizer and lay your sod. Keep watered well for at least 10 days. If this is a small area, this is also a great time for growing grass from seed.
works for me - but plastic would work too. You have to make sure that the newspapers overlap well, and that they are weighted down round the edges - any light that gets in and they'll just keep growing ! Just peek under once in a while to see if they are dead or not - this method kills the root, too, and you can then dig it all in for good compost . Shouldn't take longer tha a couple of weeks, but if you want to leave it over winter, that would be even better - dig the newspaper in too if you want !
I think I read here or somewhere that in an isolated area, you can poor boiling water onto weeds and that it will kill them. The thing that I've been learning about pulling weeds, is that you've gotta get the root system, or else they just come back.