the seeds will have been in the soil and when you turned the soil it brought them up to the light. This causes them to germinate sadly.
I reckon 3-4 inches deep. can you hoe the tops off this would work if it was a dry/windy day.

Thank you very much for that quick reply! That hadcrossed my mind. The odd thing is though that I have been growing in that bed for 12 years but have not had an invasion of willowherb before - there have been odd ones here and there but none has been allowed to flower. I can do some hoeing but will need to be careful not to damage the fuchsia roots as there are half a dozen plants there.

I can certainly put 3-4"of mulch down though, if a bit of space is left round them. Glad I asked as I probably wouldn't have put it down so thickly. All that's needed now is a dry day and some get-up-and-go - any tips on that??

as for the dry, sorry cant do a sun dance :o) as for get up and go mine sort of got up and went a little while ago. Its so bitterly cold here at the moment.

Once I'm wrapped up with nothing else that needs doing I find it goes ok. Its when you know you have visitors coming at 11 that makes me think is it worth doing 2 hrs when I'll need a shower etc before they arrive that stops me. [Tomorrow]. Or if OH hints that you may be called on to help realign front and back wheels on a motor bike or pass bricks as he bricks up a door in the work shop. [the last 2 weeks]. Those phrases 'are you busy?' loosely translates as 'stop what you are doing in the garden and come and help me instead' [anytime!]

Hum. Today was lovely, sunny and reasonably mild - and I had a full day of other stuff to do...such is life.
Maybe the answer is to only have visitors who are handy with spade and rake...these days I find increasingly that as you said my get up and go has got up and gone...

seeds can lay dormant in the ground for years and years until you finally disturb the soil enough to give them the light and moisture needed to jet forth.

True. But this bed's been dug over more than once or twice...

that is the problem though seeds end up in all sorts of nooks and crannies. I get seeds germinating from plants I haven't grown for years. The willow herb seed is wind blown so they are probably blowing in from elsewhere. I have the same problem with dandys, they seed on the grass verges further through the village.

my nightmare weed at the moment is enchanter's nightshade, long thin rhizomes. I dug a border yesterday and found a lot of it. I will have to keep an eye on it through the summer.

True. I've this winter seen a plant from a runner of an acanthus I binned years ago because it runs so and never flowered. I thought it was a thistle at first. It seems a shame to turf it out after it survived so long...
I seem to be winning against Enchanters Nightshade, fingers crossed...but it's a dainty little thing and for a year or two I let it be because I loved its name....
And oh yes, dandelions - in the season OH and/or I go out with a jug to pick all the flowers we see (except if I see little creature enjoying its breakfast I tend to feel sympathetic and leave it)
Have you still got bluebells under your beech tree?

the foliage for the bluebells are showing so hopefully i'll get flowers. I have Spanish ones in the 'atrocity corner' in the front garden.

I'm glad I'm not the only one feeling overwhelmed by all there is to do in the garden! I start out with good intentions but soon flag.
I too have lashings of willowherb springing up, not only in the beds but also in pots. It must be a good year for them.
I don't know where they are coming from unless they blew in last summer from the large number of building sites which are rapidly transforming our village into a fair-sized town. The soil has definitely been disturbed for a mile in each direction! They are a pain to get rid of but not as bad as bindweed, which is the bane of my gardening life!

Bindweed? Penny, thank you for getting me to count my blessings!

I have that too in a different bed coming in from the neighbour's garden.
the one I don't have any more is ground elder. [at least not the last time I checked.]

How about Bindweed and Ground elder in amongst the roots of the Pyracantha hedge? Anyone fancy that, as I have it in abundance?
Rosebay willow herb I tend to leave to do it's thing if it's not in my way, so the plants that appear by the million are my own fault!

That's just too much, Honeysuckle! At least our willowherb isn't Rosebay... But in your lovely garden Rosebay will look at home so good for you leaving alone. It is beautiful when its flowering after all. Lets hope the other two don't spread out into your flowery places... (Did you ever get more goose eggs to hatch?)