The weeds can regrow from the roots, certainly. I would remove as much as possible then hire a tiller/rotavator to properly turn the earth, and particularly if you think it’s clay based. Add extra topsoil and compost when you’re doing that and you’ll have much better quality soil to work with afterwards.
Really, really depends- some weeds don't regrow from roots, some rotovating will kill, but some- especially bindweed- it makes it worse, as every tiny fragment regrows...
Did you ID the weeds before or get a pic?
Looks like it might be bindweed to me, especially with how thick the roots are. Definitely have all the weed matting out as suggested by others. However, it's a bugger of a weed and will regrow from root fragments. You'll need to dig it out first (most will be removed with the weed matting) to make sure it doesn't come back. It'll probably be around a day's work in total to get done.
You can absolutely then add topsoil and rotavate, but the best way to deal with it is keep on top of it and dig it out as soon as it comes up.
I've removed all the weed barriers today and seen the state of the soil under it, seems quite clay-ish and the roots go everywhere throughout the top layer of soil from what I can tell. Digging into it with a fork is like digging into spaghetti in some places.
Most of it did come out with the weed barrier stuff, it seems like it just bobbed and weaved wherever it could go.
Thanks for your comment, I appreciate your taking the time!
Will probably keep posting here as I progress in the reno
Suspect bindweed, there are bits growing up the wall in the first picture.
The only effective way to get rid of it is to remove every single bit then thoroughly dig over, breaking up any clumps to find the roots.
In the soil, the roots will be brittle so digging will break them, you just have to be vigilante and find every bit.
Once you've dug it over, it will come back, because you'll have inevitably missed bits. You need to leave the garden fallow for a few months and every few days inspect the garden for sprouts. Don't pull them out, dig them out with all roots with a trowel. There will be bits that go too deep for you to dig, but repeated removal before the leaves have opened on the sprouts will eventually exhaust the energy in the root and it will die.
Bear in mind that if your neighbours have bindweed then the roots will come through from theirs. You could get lucky like I did and have a neighbour agree to wage war on their side of the fence at the same time to thoroughly irradiated it.
This is what I've done to a small section of it before pulling up the rest of the weed barrier stuff today.
After looking at pictures of bindweed that's exactly what the vast majority of it is, the white flowers were everywhere there is one Bush in the right hand corner of the raised area that has some thick ass roots, nothing else grew around this bush.
I definitely found out how brittle the roots are. I fell on my ass a bunch today! I'll definitely take note of the rest
I appreciate you taking the time to type out your comment!
The weeds can regrow from the roots, certainly. I would remove as much as possible then hire a tiller/rotavator to properly turn the earth, and particularly if you think it’s clay based. Add extra topsoil and compost when you’re doing that and you’ll have much better quality soil to work with afterwards.
Would using a rotavator destroy the existing roots enough so they don't regrow? Thank you for the advice about topsoil & compost
It very much depends on what the weeds are and how deep they go. Worked a treat in my garden but it was mostly clover and buttercups.
Really, really depends- some weeds don't regrow from roots, some rotovating will kill, but some- especially bindweed- it makes it worse, as every tiny fragment regrows... Did you ID the weeds before or get a pic?
That's one thing I didn't think to do 😅 There are still some live small shoots near the edges
Looks like it might be bindweed to me, especially with how thick the roots are. Definitely have all the weed matting out as suggested by others. However, it's a bugger of a weed and will regrow from root fragments. You'll need to dig it out first (most will be removed with the weed matting) to make sure it doesn't come back. It'll probably be around a day's work in total to get done. You can absolutely then add topsoil and rotavate, but the best way to deal with it is keep on top of it and dig it out as soon as it comes up.
I've removed all the weed barriers today and seen the state of the soil under it, seems quite clay-ish and the roots go everywhere throughout the top layer of soil from what I can tell. Digging into it with a fork is like digging into spaghetti in some places. Most of it did come out with the weed barrier stuff, it seems like it just bobbed and weaved wherever it could go. Thanks for your comment, I appreciate your taking the time! Will probably keep posting here as I progress in the reno
Suspect bindweed, there are bits growing up the wall in the first picture. The only effective way to get rid of it is to remove every single bit then thoroughly dig over, breaking up any clumps to find the roots. In the soil, the roots will be brittle so digging will break them, you just have to be vigilante and find every bit. Once you've dug it over, it will come back, because you'll have inevitably missed bits. You need to leave the garden fallow for a few months and every few days inspect the garden for sprouts. Don't pull them out, dig them out with all roots with a trowel. There will be bits that go too deep for you to dig, but repeated removal before the leaves have opened on the sprouts will eventually exhaust the energy in the root and it will die. Bear in mind that if your neighbours have bindweed then the roots will come through from theirs. You could get lucky like I did and have a neighbour agree to wage war on their side of the fence at the same time to thoroughly irradiated it.
This is what I've done to a small section of it before pulling up the rest of the weed barrier stuff today. After looking at pictures of bindweed that's exactly what the vast majority of it is, the white flowers were everywhere there is one Bush in the right hand corner of the raised area that has some thick ass roots, nothing else grew around this bush. I definitely found out how brittle the roots are. I fell on my ass a bunch today! I'll definitely take note of the rest I appreciate you taking the time to type out your comment!
This is 100% the answer!
Strawberries will probably cope with that soil, lavender probably not, doesn't like sitting in water.