"Black Shuck" wrote in message
...
Not a gardener at all, so bear with me...

My house has a large amount of weed infested lawn, and shrubs that need
constant attention, so in a moment of madness I decided gravelling the
whole lot would be a good idea for a low maintenance garden., can then
put plants and shrubs in pots to keep it manageable...

Anyhow, I am preparing the ground at the moment, skimming the top layer
of the grass off, and digging up roots, which is all fine, but I have a
question on what type of matting to use.

My local builders merchant has a fabric type that allows the water down,
but no weeds up,available off a 1m wide roll, or plastic type, which is
basically a total barrier to everything, but comes on 4m wide roll.

I was wondering about the pros and cons of each type. The front garden
in question is about 8m x 8m, so the 4m roll would be nice, as there is
only 1 join compared to 8 joins (and I heard comments about the joins
being a pain when raking over). So I am tempted to go this way (it's
also cheaper...) My only concern is pooling of water when it rains.
The garden is flat (as in not on a hill).

Anyone got any advice on this...

Thanks..
you could perforate the polythene sheet to allow water to seep through and
as long as the holes are not too big no weeds will come through