weed control over winter!

[clarelouise]

Can anyone suggest something to cover a large area of my garden that will kill the weeds over winter.
We have dug the area over 24ft x 24ft and we are still in the middle of sieving through the masses of stones we have.
We are not going to be able to sow grass seeds by the end of september as there is still too much to do.
The trouble is even though we sprayed the area with weed killer before digging over,the weeds are starting to grow through again.
What can we cover over the area over the winter until spring to stop them growing back.
We will be back to square one again in spring with the weeds if we leave it uncovered.
We have taken weeks to dig this over and get rid of weeds and really do not want to do it all over again.
It's taken a long time so far as we have a toddler who takes up lots of time plus she has cystic fibrosis,so takes up lots of time.
That's why we won't get it done before autumn time.
Advice would be much appreciated on this please on what to cover the area with.
Would black sheeting do and if so what type?
Many many thanks.
clare

[RATTER15]

Just cover it in black plasic sheets from the garden center, even old carpets will work, just to keep the light out.

[hammerman]

Unfortunately, weed seeds can remain dormant in the soil for many many years. Chances are, the seeds that are coming up now are just annual weeds....which germinate, grow as fast as they can, flowers, seed then die. These can be kept under control by hoeing and allowing them to dry out in the sun.
You will get weeds come up even on a newly sown lawn but mowing usually kills them off.

So the choices you have are to let the seeds germinate and then hoe them off as soon as they appear or to cover with a big sheet of any black polythene or even an old carpet....although that might be a bit messy when wet. But the seeds will remain until conditions are right for germinating.

I would probably opt for the first choice and hoe them when they come up.

HTH

[Solarjunkie]

Cover it in old carpet. Most places that put down new carpet put all the old carpet they take up, in a skip and are quite happy to give you the old stuff for garden purposes. My garden was never so colourful than when covered in bits of red and blue carpet!