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Weed Fabric/ Landscaping

Will Hamilton 78Will Hamilton 78 Posts: 3
edited March 2018 in Garden design
Need some advice.
I’m trying to make my garden maintenance free and was thinking of putting weed control fabric down.

If I put a thin layer of topsoil on top of the weed control, will weeds grow from the top soil?

I have a big garden and I haven’t got time to maintain it, but in a few years I plan to landscape it properly. 

Posts

  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    Yes, weeds will grow in the soil you put down. The words maintenance and free should never, really, be linked to garden. You can of course have an area of scrub but not a garden.
  • Will Hamilton 78Will Hamilton 78 Posts: 3
    Ok, thanks.

    so, apart from chips and bark, what else can go ontop of weed fabric ? 
  • hogweedhogweed Posts: 4,053
    Not much else really. Even with the fabric down and gravel chips/bark you will get weeds rooting into the substrate. Were you thinking about covering the whole garden with membrane or only a part?
    'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
  • Will Hamilton 78Will Hamilton 78 Posts: 3
    Just parts. I’ve got a huge lawn that needs detached and trees, bushes and  shrubs to look after. I’ve got 3-4 biggish areas that I could do without for a couple of years. 
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 23,155
    I have used permeable fabric covered in bark chips in shrub beds which have remained almost mainteance free for several years. But I wouldn't use it for perennials, when splitting and replanting etc it would become a nuisance. Weeds will grow in topsoil.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • DampGardenManDampGardenMan Posts: 1,054
    My previous garden was full of ground elder at the bottom. So I planted a few small trees and shrubs and then covered the area with ground membrane and chucked bark chips and shredded clippings on top. Once I had a inch or two of depth I planted bluebells, snowdrops and other bulbs. It all seemed to work fine - twenty years later (ahem) I had a mini-wood that looked very nice in the spring. And no sign of of the dreaded g. e., though I never dared pull any of the membrane up for a look-see! Weeds did seed, but not to any great degree and those I didn't want were easily pulled out.
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