I am hurrying to get City rebate for removing lawn before they run out of money.

The curse of this street is horrible tree that sheds needles, sharp seeds, and sap, and obscures plantings. Everybody hates them. City will not remove.

My neighbor took out his grass and spread mulch, but his new "lawn" is immediately covered with needles. It looks awful as he knew going in.

Needles cannot be removed from mulch with blower. I just spent an hour cleaning out my beds by hand.

To the point: I am considering either pebbles or gravel with a few drought-adapted large plants. Yes I know...

I THINK one could blow needles off pebbles. Could one do it off gravel?

Pebbles more expensive than gravel?

Any experience/advice gratefully received,

HB

Hypatia Nachshon wrote:

I am hurrying to get City rebate for removing lawn before they run out of money.
The curse of this street is horrible tree that sheds needles, sharp seeds, and sap, and obscures plantings. Everybody hates them. City will not remove.
My neighbor took out his grass and spread mulch, but his new "lawn" is immediately covered with needles. It looks awful as he knew going in.
Needles cannot be removed from mulch with blower. I just spent an hour cleaning out my beds by hand.
To the point: I am considering either pebbles or gravel with a few drought-adapted large plants. Yes I know...
I THINK one could blow needles off pebbles. Could one do it off gravel?
Pebbles more expensive than gravel?
Any experience/advice gratefully received,

Pebbles/gravel migrate, those friggin' stones will be everywhere they
don't belong, you'll be a slave to picking them up, you'll be very
sorry you ever bought them... won't be long they'll work their way
into your soil, you'll never get rid of the curse. You'll fare much
better with an organic mulch, pine bark nuggets work well, I like the
large ones. Nuggets migrate too but at least they decay, and they
won't wreck your lawn mower.

On 7/3/2015 5:51 PM, Hypatia Nachshon wrote:

I am hurrying to get City rebate for removing lawn before they run
out of money.

The curse of this street is horrible tree that sheds needles, sharp
seeds, and sap, and obscures plantings. Everybody hates them. City
will not remove.

My neighbor took out his grass and spread mulch, but his new "lawn"
is immediately covered with needles. It looks awful as he knew going
in.

Needles cannot be removed from mulch with blower. I just spent an
hour cleaning out my beds by hand.

To the point: I am considering either pebbles or gravel with a few drought-adapted large plants. Yes I know...

I THINK one could blow needles off pebbles. Could one do it off gravel?

Pebbles more expensive than gravel?

Any experience/advice gratefully received,

I asked my favorite landscape contractor about placing pea gravel in my
parkway (aka verge, parking strip, the space between the sidewalk and
the curb). He said that 1/2-inch or 3/4-inch gravel would be easier to
keep clean.

Under the gravel, he would place landscape cloth. This allows rain to
penetrate but blocks weeds from rooting.

I would have the 5 lawn sprinklers removed from the parkway. They would
be replaced with 2 bublers placed in 3-inch vertical irrigation tubes
(perforated plastic pipe filled with gravel) to water my street tree and
the ivy on my mailbox.

I am waited for his cost estimate. Since the parkway is now cinquefoil
and weeds but not grass, I get no rebate from my water service.
Tomorrow, I plan to shut down the sprinklers except for one that waters
the ivy and one that waters the tree.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary

David E. Ross wrote:
On 7/3/2015 5:51 PM, Hypatia Nachshon wrote:

I am hurrying to get City rebate for removing lawn before they run
out of money.

The curse of this street is horrible tree that sheds needles, sharp
seeds, and sap, and obscures plantings. Everybody hates them. City
will not remove.

My neighbor took out his grass and spread mulch, but his new "lawn"
is immediately covered with needles. It looks awful as he knew going
in.

Needles cannot be removed from mulch with blower. I just spent an
hour cleaning out my beds by hand.

To the point: I am considering either pebbles or gravel with a few
drought-adapted large plants. Yes I know...

I THINK one could blow needles off pebbles. Could one do it off
gravel?

Pebbles more expensive than gravel?

Any experience/advice gratefully received,

I asked my favorite landscape contractor about placing pea gravel in
my parkway (aka verge, parking strip, the space between the sidewalk
and the curb). He said that 1/2-inch or 3/4-inch gravel would be
easier to keep clean.

And there's nothing nicer than hot gravel to improve a hot summer day.

Hypatia Nachshon wrote:
....
Any experience/advice gratefully received,

i would not ever use rocks under a tree or in any
other area that might get debris from a plant. it's
just too hard to keep weeds from getting going in the
rocks once the moisture levels get high enough to
sprout seeds.

if, however, you are bound and determined to use
gravel, use larger stones (that won't move around as
much, pea gravel goes all over the place) and put them
down deep enough that any seeds that fall into them
will not germinate. this will keep the weeding down
for a while, but eventually when the rocks fill up
with enough debris they'll need to be cleaned out
again to get the less weed sprouting conditions
restored. underlayment weed barrier is very much
worth the effort. keeps the seeds from the subsoil
being moved around and then sprouting.

the only areas that are nice for smaller pebbles are
the sorts of gardens where you might want to do the
raked patterns like a Japanese garden. which implies
that most leaves/debris are picked up frequently and
it's not impossible to weed such a small space.


songbird

I don't think gravel or pebbles is the right way to go. Personally, I think slabs would look better and it wouldn't make garden look messy. If not, then consider artificial grass as that would still give the "lawn" look but would be easily taken care of if any needles did fall. It would further stop and of the problems that you are having with your "lawn" at the minuet.
Hope you find this useful

On 7/4/2015 9:12 AM, Bob F wrote:
David E. Ross wrote:
On 7/3/2015 5:51 PM, Hypatia Nachshon wrote:

I am hurrying to get City rebate for removing lawn before they run
out of money.

The curse of this street is horrible tree that sheds needles, sharp
seeds, and sap, and obscures plantings. Everybody hates them. City
will not remove.

My neighbor took out his grass and spread mulch, but his new "lawn"
is immediately covered with needles. It looks awful as he knew going
in.

Needles cannot be removed from mulch with blower. I just spent an
hour cleaning out my beds by hand.

To the point: I am considering either pebbles or gravel with a few
drought-adapted large plants. Yes I know...

I THINK one could blow needles off pebbles. Could one do it off
gravel?

Pebbles more expensive than gravel?

Any experience/advice gratefully received,

I asked my favorite landscape contractor about placing pea gravel in
my parkway (aka verge, parking strip, the space between the sidewalk
and the curb). He said that 1/2-inch or 3/4-inch gravel would be
easier to keep clean.

And there's nothing nicer than hot gravel to improve a hot summer day.



Given the spread of the street tree (mention of which you snipped), the
gravel will be in shade most of the day.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary

On Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 7:25:01 AM UTC-7, Andy Morley wrote:
Hypatia Nachshon;1014821 Wrote:
I am hurrying to get City rebate for removing lawn before they run out
of money.

The curse of this street is horrible tree that sheds needles, sharp
seeds, and sap, and obscures plantings. Everybody hates them. City
will not remove.

My neighbor took out his grass and spread mulch, but his new "lawn" is
immediately covered with needles. It looks awful as he knew going in.

Needles cannot be removed from mulch with blower. I just spent an hour
cleaning out my beds by hand.

To the point: I am considering either pebbles or gravel with a few
drought-adapted large plants. Yes I know...

I THINK one could blow needles off pebbles. Could one do it off gravel?


Pebbles more expensive than gravel?

Any experience/advice gratefully received,

HB


I don't think gravel or pebbles is the right way to go. Personally, I
think slabs would look better and it wouldn't make garden look messy. If
not, then consider artificial grass as that would still give the "lawn"
look but would be easily taken care of if any needles did fall. It would
further stop and of the problems that you are having with your "lawn" at
the minuet.
Hope you find this useful


Zut, alors! I didn't even THINK of slabs. That does sound like a better way to go. In small spaces between slabs, I could put a very flat, hardy ground cover like dymondia,(sp?) which I have between stepping stones to side gate. Would be much easier to sweep/blow off hated tree needles.

Hope they aren't too expensive. This is just for a parking strip, BTW, not for whole lawn. If slab is a budget buster, I have a lot of used brick stacked up in back that I could form into [shapes].

Thanks for great suggestion, Andy, and thanks also to other kind NG members..


HB

On 7/7/2015 10:32 AM, Hypatia Nachshon wrote:
On Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 7:25:01 AM UTC-7, Andy Morley wrote:
Hypatia Nachshon;1014821 Wrote:
I am hurrying to get City rebate for removing lawn before they run out
of money.

The curse of this street is horrible tree that sheds needles, sharp
seeds, and sap, and obscures plantings. Everybody hates them. City
will not remove.

My neighbor took out his grass and spread mulch, but his new "lawn" is
immediately covered with needles. It looks awful as he knew going in.

Needles cannot be removed from mulch with blower. I just spent an hour
cleaning out my beds by hand.

To the point: I am considering either pebbles or gravel with a few
drought-adapted large plants. Yes I know...

I THINK one could blow needles off pebbles. Could one do it off gravel?


Pebbles more expensive than gravel?

Any experience/advice gratefully received,

HB


I don't think gravel or pebbles is the right way to go. Personally, I
think slabs would look better and it wouldn't make garden look messy. If
not, then consider artificial grass as that would still give the "lawn"
look but would be easily taken care of if any needles did fall. It would
further stop and of the problems that you are having with your "lawn" at
the minuet.
Hope you find this useful


Zut, alors! I didn't even THINK of slabs. That does sound like a better way to go. In small spaces between slabs, I could put a very flat, hardy ground cover like dymondia,(sp?) which I have between stepping stones to side gate. Would be much easier to sweep/blow off hated tree needles.

Hope they aren't too expensive. This is just for a parking strip, BTW, not for whole lawn. If slab is a budget buster, I have a lot of used brick stacked up in back that I could form into [shapes].

Thanks for great suggestion, Andy, and thanks also to other kind NG members.


HB


No matter what you use, consider landscape cloth underneath. It is
sufficiently porous to allow rain and other water to penetrate to the
soil below it but dense enough to prevent weeds from rooting.

If you want a few plants in the strip, you can poke holes in the cloth
to plant them. If you want to plant a ground cover between stone slabs
or bricks, however, then forgo the landscape cloth.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary

On Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 2:05:54 PM UTC-7, David E. Ross wrote:
On 7/7/2015 10:32 AM, Hypatia Nachshon wrote:
On Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 7:25:01 AM UTC-7, Andy Morley wrote:
Hypatia Nachshon;1014821 Wrote:
I am hurrying to get City rebate for removing lawn before they run out
of money.

The curse of this street is horrible tree that sheds needles, sharp
seeds, and sap, and obscures plantings. Everybody hates them. City
will not remove.

My neighbor took out his grass and spread mulch, but his new "lawn" is
immediately covered with needles. It looks awful as he knew going in.

Needles cannot be removed from mulch with blower. I just spent an hour
cleaning out my beds by hand.

To the point: I am considering either pebbles or gravel with a few
drought-adapted large plants. Yes I know...

I THINK one could blow needles off pebbles. Could one do it off gravel?


Pebbles more expensive than gravel?

Any experience/advice gratefully received,

HB


I don't think gravel or pebbles is the right way to go. Personally, I
think slabs would look better and it wouldn't make garden look messy. If
not, then consider artificial grass as that would still give the "lawn"
look but would be easily taken care of if any needles did fall. It would
further stop and of the problems that you are having with your "lawn" at
the minuet.
Hope you find this useful


Zut, alors! I didn't even THINK of slabs. That does sound like a better way to go. In small spaces between slabs, I could put a very flat, hardy ground cover like dymondia,(sp?) which I have between stepping stones to side gate. Would be much easier to sweep/blow off hated tree needles.

Hope they aren't too expensive. This is just for a parking strip, BTW, not for whole lawn. If slab is a budget buster, I have a lot of used brick stacked up in back that I could form into [shapes].

Thanks for great suggestion, Andy, and thanks also to other kind NG members.


HB


No matter what you use, consider landscape cloth underneath. It is
sufficiently porous to allow rain and other water to penetrate to the
soil below it but dense enough to prevent weeds from rooting.

If you want a few plants in the strip, you can poke holes in the cloth
to plant them. If you want to plant a ground cover between stone slabs
or bricks, however, then forgo the landscape cloth.

Thank you, David; your input is worth considering.

However, I wonder whether weeds would really stand a chance from underneath a heavy concrete slab, so maybe landscape cloth not needed.

Any experience out there?

HB

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary

On 7/7/2015 7:46 PM, Hypatia Nachshon wrote:
On Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 2:05:54 PM UTC-7, David E. Ross wrote:
On 7/7/2015 10:32 AM, Hypatia Nachshon wrote:
On Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 7:25:01 AM UTC-7, Andy Morley wrote:
Hypatia Nachshon;1014821 Wrote:
I am hurrying to get City rebate for removing lawn before they run out
of money.

The curse of this street is horrible tree that sheds needles, sharp
seeds, and sap, and obscures plantings. Everybody hates them. City
will not remove.

My neighbor took out his grass and spread mulch, but his new "lawn" is
immediately covered with needles. It looks awful as he knew going in.

Needles cannot be removed from mulch with blower. I just spent an hour
cleaning out my beds by hand.

To the point: I am considering either pebbles or gravel with a few
drought-adapted large plants. Yes I know...

I THINK one could blow needles off pebbles. Could one do it off gravel?


Pebbles more expensive than gravel?

Any experience/advice gratefully received,

HB


I don't think gravel or pebbles is the right way to go. Personally, I
think slabs would look better and it wouldn't make garden look messy. If
not, then consider artificial grass as that would still give the "lawn"
look but would be easily taken care of if any needles did fall. It would
further stop and of the problems that you are having with your "lawn" at
the minuet.
Hope you find this useful


Zut, alors! I didn't even THINK of slabs. That does sound like a better way to go. In small spaces between slabs, I could put a very flat, hardy ground cover like dymondia,(sp?) which I have between stepping stones to side gate. Would be much easier to sweep/blow off hated tree needles.

Hope they aren't too expensive. This is just for a parking strip, BTW, not for whole lawn. If slab is a budget buster, I have a lot of used brick stacked up in back that I could form into [shapes].

Thanks for great suggestion, Andy, and thanks also to other kind NG members.


HB


No matter what you use, consider landscape cloth underneath. It is
sufficiently porous to allow rain and other water to penetrate to the
soil below it but dense enough to prevent weeds from rooting.

If you want a few plants in the strip, you can poke holes in the cloth
to plant them. If you want to plant a ground cover between stone slabs
or bricks, however, then forgo the landscape cloth.

Thank you, David; your input is worth considering.

However, I wonder whether weeds would really stand a chance from underneath a heavy concrete slab, so maybe landscape cloth not needed.

Any experience out there?

The problem would be weeds trying to grow in the gaps between slabs or
bricks. I have a brick path from the public sidewalk to my front door.
I can hardly insert the blade of a paring knife between the bricks.
Small weeds do try to grow there anyway.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary

On Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 10:13:41 PM UTC-7, David E. Ross wrote:
On 7/7/2015 7:46 PM, Hypatia Nachshon wrote:
On Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 2:05:54 PM UTC-7, David E. Ross wrote:
On 7/7/2015 10:32 AM, Hypatia Nachshon wrote:
On Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 7:25:01 AM UTC-7, Andy Morley wrote:
Hypatia Nachshon;1014821 Wrote:
I am hurrying to get City rebate for removing lawn before they run out
of money.

The curse of this street is horrible tree that sheds needles, sharp
seeds, and sap, and obscures plantings. Everybody hates them. City
will not remove.

My neighbor took out his grass and spread mulch, but his new "lawn" is
immediately covered with needles. It looks awful as he knew going in.

On 7/8/2015 2:59 PM, Hypatia Nachshon wrote:
On Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 10:13:41 PM UTC-7, David E. Ross wrote:
On 7/7/2015 7:46 PM, Hypatia Nachshon wrote:
On Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 2:05:54 PM UTC-7, David E. Ross wrote:
On 7/7/2015 10:32 AM, Hypatia Nachshon wrote:
On Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 7:25:01 AM UTC-7, Andy Morley wrote:
Hypatia Nachshon;1014821 Wrote:
I am hurrying to get City rebate for removing lawn before they run out
of money.

The curse of this street is horrible tree that sheds needles, sharp
seeds, and sap, and obscures plantings. Everybody hates them. City
will not remove.

My neighbor took out his grass and spread mulch, but his new "lawn" is
immediately covered with needles. It looks awful as he knew going in.

Needles cannot be removed from mulch with blower. I just spent an hour
cleaning out my beds by hand.

To the point: I am considering either pebbles or gravel with a few
drought-adapted large plants. Yes I know...

I THINK one could blow needles off pebbles. Could one do it off gravel?


Pebbles more expensive than gravel?

Any experience/advice gratefully received,

HB


I don't think gravel or pebbles is the right way to go. Personally, I
think slabs would look better and it wouldn't make garden look messy. If
not, then consider artificial grass as that would still give the "lawn"
look but would be easily taken care of if any needles did fall. It would
further stop and of the problems that you are having with your "lawn" at
the minuet.
Hope you find this useful


Zut, alors! I didn't even THINK of slabs. That does sound like a better way to go. In small spaces between slabs, I could put a very flat, hardy ground cover like dymondia,(sp?) which I have between stepping stones to side gate. Would be much easier to sweep/blow off hated tree needles.

Hope they aren't too expensive. This is just for a parking strip, BTW, not for whole lawn. If slab is a budget buster, I have a lot of used brick stacked up in back that I could form into [shapes].

Thanks for great suggestion, Andy, and thanks also to other kind NG members.


HB


No matter what you use, consider landscape cloth underneath. It is
sufficiently porous to allow rain and other water to penetrate to the
soil below it but dense enough to prevent weeds from rooting.

If you want a few plants in the strip, you can poke holes in the cloth
to plant them. If you want to plant a ground cover between stone slabs
or bricks, however, then forgo the landscape cloth.

Thank you, David; your input is worth considering.

However, I wonder whether weeds would really stand a chance from underneath a heavy concrete slab, so maybe landscape cloth not needed.

Any experience out there?

The problem would be weeds trying to grow in the gaps between slabs or
bricks. I have a brick path from the public sidewalk to my front door.
I can hardly insert the blade of a paring knife between the bricks.
Small weeds do try to grow there anyway.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary

Would this be a case where the Herbicide That Cannot Be Named should be applied?

HB


It's too much bother for me, measuring and mixing. I have to wait for a
day when the air is calm. Afterwards, I have to clear the sprayer so
that I can use it on the plants I want to keep.

Note that the above rant is based on my actual use of the unnamed
herbicide. I generally use it only on my hill, on larger weeds.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary

On 7/8/2015 4:59 PM, Hypatia Nachshon wrote:
On Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 10:13:41 PM UTC-7, David E. Ross wrote:
On 7/7/2015 7:46 PM, Hypatia Nachshon wrote:
On Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 2:05:54 PM UTC-7, David E. Ross wrote:
On 7/7/2015 10:32 AM, Hypatia Nachshon wrote:
On Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 7:25:01 AM UTC-7, Andy Morley wrote:
Hypatia Nachshon;1014821 Wrote:
I am hurrying to get City rebate for removing lawn before they run out
of money.

The curse of this street is horrible tree that sheds needles, sharp
seeds, and sap, and obscures plantings. Everybody hates them. City
will not remove.

My neighbor took out his grass and spread mulch, but his new "lawn" is
immediately covered with needles. It looks awful as he knew going in.

Needles cannot be removed from mulch with blower. I just spent an hour
cleaning out my beds by hand.

To the point: I am considering either pebbles or gravel with a few
drought-adapted large plants. Yes I know...

I THINK one could blow needles off pebbles. Could one do it off gravel?


Pebbles more expensive than gravel?

Any experience/advice gratefully received,

HB


I don't think gravel or pebbles is the right way to go. Personally, I
think slabs would look better and it wouldn't make garden look messy. If
not, then consider artificial grass as that would still give the "lawn"
look but would be easily taken care of if any needles did fall. It would
further stop and of the problems that you are having with your "lawn" at
the minuet.
Hope you find this useful


Zut, alors! I didn't even THINK of slabs. That does sound like a better way to go. In small spaces between slabs, I could put a very flat, hardy ground cover like dymondia,(sp?) which I have between stepping stones to side gate. Would be much easier to sweep/blow off hated tree needles.

Hope they aren't too expensive. This is just for a parking strip, BTW, not for whole lawn. If slab is a budget buster, I have a lot of used brick stacked up in back that I could form into [shapes].

Thanks for great suggestion, Andy, and thanks also to other kind NG members.


HB


No matter what you use, consider landscape cloth underneath. It is
sufficiently porous to allow rain and other water to penetrate to the
soil below it but dense enough to prevent weeds from rooting.

If you want a few plants in the strip, you can poke holes in the cloth
to plant them. If you want to plant a ground cover between stone slabs
or bricks, however, then forgo the landscape cloth.

Thank you, David; your input is worth considering.

However, I wonder whether weeds would really stand a chance from underneath a heavy concrete slab, so maybe landscape cloth not needed.

Any experience out there?

The problem would be weeds trying to grow in the gaps between slabs or
bricks. I have a brick path from the public sidewalk to my front door.
I can hardly insert the blade of a paring knife between the bricks.
Small weeds do try to grow there anyway.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary

Would this be a case where the Herbicide That Cannot Be Named should be applied?


Boiling water works a treat. Oops. Guess that's not a popular
suggestion in California right now.

Incidentally, I've laid two patios using pavers/decking squares made
of wood instead of brick or rock. The main reason for going with wood
decking squares was that I wanted to ensure moisture permeability, so
the tree roots in the area would continue to receive water. The
secondary reason was that the wood pavers are much lighter weight and
thus easier/faster to install. The unexpected benefit of a wood
surface is that is much cooler underfoot and does not refract much
heat into the surrounding area, especially compared to
brick/stone/concrete surfaces.

On Thursday, July 9, 2015 at 1:16:34 PM UTC-7, Moe DeLoughan wrote:
On 7/8/2015 4:59 PM, Hypatia Nachshon wrote:
On Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 10:13:41 PM UTC-7, David E. Ross wrote:
On 7/7/2015 7:46 PM, Hypatia Nachshon wrote:
On Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 2:05:54 PM UTC-7, David E. Ross wrote:
On 7/7/2015 10:32 AM, Hypatia Nachshon wrote:
On Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 7:25:01 AM UTC-7, Andy Morley wrote:
Hypatia Nachshon;1014821 Wrote:
I am hurrying to get City rebate for removing lawn before they run out
of money.

The curse of this street is horrible tree that sheds needles, sharp
seeds, and sap, and obscures plantings. Everybody hates them. City
will not remove.

My neighbor took out his grass and spread mulch, but his new "lawn" is
immediately covered with needles. It looks awful as he knew going in.

Needles cannot be removed from mulch with blower. I just spent an hour
cleaning out my beds by hand.

To the point: I am considering either pebbles or gravel with a few
drought-adapted large plants. Yes I know...

I THINK one could blow needles off pebbles. Could one do it off gravel?


Pebbles more expensive than gravel?

Any experience/advice gratefully received,

HB


I don't think gravel or pebbles is the right way to go. Personally, I
think slabs would look better and it wouldn't make garden look messy. If
not, then consider artificial grass as that would still give the "lawn"
look but would be easily taken care of if any needles did fall. It would
further stop and of the problems that you are having with your "lawn" at
the minuet.
Hope you find this useful


Zut, alors! I didn't even THINK of slabs. That does sound like a better way to go. In small spaces between slabs, I could put a very flat, hardy ground cover like dymondia,(sp?) which I have between stepping stones to side gate. Would be much easier to sweep/blow off hated tree needles.

Hope they aren't too expensive. This is just for a parking strip, BTW, not for whole lawn. If slab is a budget buster, I have a lot of used brick stacked up in back that I could form into [shapes].

Thanks for great suggestion, Andy, and thanks also to other kind NG members.


HB


No matter what you use, consider landscape cloth underneath. It is
sufficiently porous to allow rain and other water to penetrate to the
soil below it but dense enough to prevent weeds from rooting.

If you want a few plants in the strip, you can poke holes in the cloth
to plant them. If you want to plant a ground cover between stone slabs
or bricks, however, then forgo the landscape cloth.

Thank you, David; your input is worth considering.

However, I wonder whether weeds would really stand a chance from underneath a heavy concrete slab, so maybe landscape cloth not needed.

Any experience out there?

The problem would be weeds trying to grow in the gaps between slabs or
bricks. I have a brick path from the public sidewalk to my front door..
I can hardly insert the blade of a paring knife between the bricks.
Small weeds do try to grow there anyway.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary

Would this be a case where the Herbicide That Cannot Be Named should be applied?


Boiling water works a treat. Oops. Guess that's not a popular
suggestion in California right now.

Yes, I use boiling water for pesky weeds that spring up between cracks in backyard concrete apron in front of garage.

Incidentally, I've laid two patios using pavers/decking squares made
of wood instead of brick or rock. The main reason for going with wood
decking squares was that I wanted to ensure moisture permeability, so
the tree roots in the area would continue to receive water. The
secondary reason was that the wood pavers are much lighter weight and
thus easier/faster to install. The unexpected benefit of a wood
surface is that is much cooler underfoot and does not refract much
heat into the surrounding area, especially compared to
brick/stone/concrete surfaces.

I didn't know here was such a thing. Went online and looked;
gorgeous, but too pricey for my budget. Also no trees on lawn proper; only
on parking strip, ergo no significant tree root problem.

Actually, I wish those trees would die so City could replace with something better. Horrible needles, seeds, sap. But they will outlive me

HB