Best machinery for clearing weed covered borders.

Hi there

A newbie to the forum here. The reason for my joining is to ask for weeding advice. I have two large borders in my back garden that are a complete carpet of weeds, including grasses. I've made a start on them but the amount of soil/turf I'm accumulating means that it will prove difficult to put in my garden waste bin due to the weight so I've taken a lot back out and ordered heavy duty rubble bags for them. You're also not supposed to put soil and turf in the bin but a little at the bottom should be okay if it's not too heavy. Anyway, I'm looking for an easier solution than the laborious forking etc and was wondering what the best bit of machinery would be to effectively clear a border of weeds, or at least to more easily churn it up. My plan is to gravel one border and both turf and slab the other, but pro tem I'm wanting the borders looking better from their period of neglect and also best clear them of weeds for their future use. I'd be happy to hire, although I see a tiller for sale in Screwfix which isn't too pricey at £69.99 that might help, although it may not be tough enough for getting through everything. It's an Essentials 800w 28cm tiller 220-240v. The borders are pretty big, hence the desire to get some help with an effective bit of machinery, and also it might to a better job than just me.

Thanks in advance.

 

Photo (s) would help.
Noting that you do not intend to grow(other than turf), could be worth treating with glysophate* weedkiller. Alternatively, dig over and spread to dry out weeds etc. Once soil dry, can be sieved out ,retaining soil to fill/level.
*will allow planting within short period, kills most roots.
Once levelled, allow to sprout weed seeds and (re)treat after 4 weeks.Allow to settle. Re level.
Returf/seed. (Late April-May.)
Lay membrane below areas for gravel/paving

 

I certainly wouldn't be digging weeds out of a border I intend to cover in slabs or gravel, glyphosate next month would be my approach.

 

Hiring or buying a rotavator isn't the solution either. You'd need a very heavy duty machine to get to any depth and it would just chop up perennial weed roots and create more problems down the line. Kill the weeds first leaving at least 4 weeks as infradig says. If any persistent ones like dandelions or bindweed show signs of life, treat again. It'll be easier to then skim off the top layer and will give you a level surface to work with.

 

I would suggest you just cover them and leave them till you're ready to turf or gravel. The weeds will get weaker, many will die.
You won't have gone to great effort to turn your useful soil into a problem.
Cardboard works pretty well, but there are lots of other things you can use.

 

Lovely idea ,@Stephen Southwest , but you could cover certain perennial weeds for 5 years and they'd still regrow once uncovered.

 

Correct, but as ever OP has given little information and seems to have dis-appeared

 

Nope - not really a lovely idea - it's pretty ugly in the short term, to be honest.
In the longer term, plants will grow if they have the right conditions, if they're not repeatedly poisoned or removed.
In my experience it works for most weeds most of the time, and would likely put this gardener in a much better position for their lawn/gravel projects.

 

Thanks a lot for all the responses. They've proved helpful.

Taking into consideration all the feedback, I'm probably going to finish off weeding one of the borders as I'm getting there with it. Both the gravel and the turfing are jobs for down the line as other things are needing done first, but I'm wanting things to at least look a bit better in the meantime. I may end up covering the freshly weeded border. With regards the other border, as it's pretty much solid green I may just mow/strim as at the moment it does look a bit like an extension to my lawn. I might also spray and at some point cover, awaiting future work. I appreciate the feedback that taking a tiller to it could create problems.