On 01/08/2015 17:16, Janet wrote:
In article ,
says...
On Sat, 1 Aug 2015 11:44:11 +0100, "ag.richards"
wrote:
Hi going to put some all year round plants in this year,just covered my
garden with stone and a membrane
but underneath there used to be a lawn not a very nice one full weeds and
stuff,just want to know the best way to go
Hitting it with glyphosate two or three weeks before covering it over
would have been sensible but it is too late now.
about this does the soil underneath need treating or can I plant straight
away any advice most welcome what sort of
plants etc,Thx in advance T.R.
Not sure what you mean by "stone". Do you mean paving slabs, gravel or
something in between? If you have a membrane you presumably mean
gravel of some sort.
The best thing to do would have been to use Glyphosate on the weedy
lawn before putting down the membrane. You need to leave it all
covered to give time for the stuff underneath to die off in the dark,
On the contrary, when you use glyphosate, you want the plant to
survive long enough to translocate the poison to its roots. Covering it
would interfere with the process.
Crucially glyphosate ruins a particular pathway in the photosynthesis
process so you want the treated weeds actively growing in good sunlight
after treatment. It takes on that characteristic orangey look when dead.
Flash burning it when tinder dry makes seedlings easier to spot.
If you're using a membrane covered in either gravel or slabs, on a
weedy lawn, there's no need to weedkill first; total lack of light will
do that(and also, prevent any weed seeds in the soil from germinating.
You can make doubly sure by covering the lawn with cardboard, then
membrane, then the stone. (I've done this; instant gravelled area on
what was lawn until that morning.)
ideally waiting long enough (?) before you plant through the membrane.
There will be weeds that get through anyway from seeds in the soil.
No, there won't. It will be far too dark and newly germinated
seedlings don't have the strength to penetrate membrane let alone stone
topping it.
However, any thistle or bamboo roots will be easily able to punch
through all but the toughest weed fabrics or find their way to any gaps
or overlap joins.
Given that you presumably want a low maintainence garden chose mostly
evergreen shrubs and small trees and/or some bulbs. Every gap in the
membrane will be a weakness that weeds will exploit.
I favour plum slate as the most weed hostile mulching material.
--
Regards,
Martin Brown