[woodburner]

If the soil has been really well cultivated for years

I wish! It was a sea of nettles edged with couch grass, and interspersed with bindweed and the occasional spindly brambel.  

I've thought of a number of possible reasons for the lack of weed seedlings.
1) The (very small) site is surrounded by trees, backed on three sides by mown grass and fields, so perhaps there isn't much weed seed to start with.
2) The soil is either very poor or very thin, as there is only about an inch at most of dark soil over what looks like subsoil but isn't as sticky as real clay. I'm not sure whether that would  really cause the lack of germination though, could it?
3) One of the previous tenents used the wrong sort of weedkiller, that had a germination inhibitor. Any suggestions what seed to use to test for this?

[horsepooisgood]

I'm yet to see a farmer out in the fields every 5 minutes weeding/hoeing, i think it is easy to get obsessed with weeds.

You will never get rid of them all so don't worry too much.

[Aunt Sally]

Ive had  HUGE digging and weeding session today, and will now hoe away every time one dares to pop up 

Makes a change peapod.

Well outmowed - For a new member with only 3 posts to your name rudeness like that can get you deleted !

[peapod]

He has no idea what I do on my plot Aunty as I dont tell him.  Hes just trying to get a rise out of me as he does to everyone.  Poor lad finds it amusing to try to annoy others by childish comments and isnt worth the time or energy

[Aunt Sally]

He may not be here long then Peapod 

[Stripey_cat]

I'm yet to see a farmer out in the fields every 5 minutes weeding/hoeing, i think it is easy to get obsessed with weeds.

That's because most of them spray herbicides around.  Do that for long enough and there are precious few weeds to spread seeds.

[Yorkie]

Don't forget that when you dig, you expose new parts of the soil to the light - and thus also weed seeds which have a nasty habit of growing   

There's not necessarily anything wrong with the weeding technique, just nature doing what it does best ...

I've dug a small square today of previously unexcavated soil with lots of stuff in it and I fully expect it to look like a green thing in a couple of weeks, but at least I've started breaking the soil up for future use.

[strangerachael]

Another thing to mention - just to make you feel better - I like to think of weeds as next year's compost.  Just like green manure. As long as you pull them out before they flower, annual weeds make great compost. Fat hen can be eaten - it used to be part of the staple diet many years ago - very nutritious apparently. Even those perennial nasties can be composted. I put mine in a thick plastic sack and when full, stash it in a corner and forget all about it for a couple of years. Then when you're tidying up your plot one day you will come across an unexpected sack of.... lovely compost - magic 

[Stripey_cat]

I twist off the tops of the perennials, and leave the roots scattered around on the concrete paths to dry.  The tops go in the compost, and the dried roots usually get burned when I'm in a pyromaniac mood and the ash goes in the compost or on beds.