weeds in a new lawn

[hobsonbear]

some of my garden was removed during building work and i want to seed it but i know that brambles, nettle and bulbs will grow through in some places. how can i get rid of them so they don't come through the new grass?

[landie]

Before you lay your lawn put down a layer of breathable membrane, which you can purchase in Garden Centres, obviously it needs to be deep enough so that you do not puncture it when aerating.

[HeadGardener]

Hi,

If you want to grow a lawn from seed the key is propper preparation of the soil! This means diging the area over thoughly to remove perennial weeds such as nettles, builders rubble. Diging over the area will also enable you to incorporate organic matter and in some cases diging will improve drainage on poorly drained soils.

Have a look at some good gardening books such as The Royal Horticultural Societys Encyclopeda of Gardening which will take you through the process of growing a lawn from seed. 

Happy gardening

[Kingaroo]

You can put down a layer of black plastic for a few weeks before seeding. This makes it very hot underneath and kills off the seeds. Then take it up and distribute your grass seed.

I would recommend against landie's idea of using membrane (landscape cloth). This is designed for beds where you have a shrub here, a flowering plant there, and want nothing to grow in between. You have to punch holes for the plants you want to grow. If you try to seed over such cloth, the grass seed won't be able to establish good roots (nor will weeds).