On 13/6/04 18:16, in article , "Janet
Baraclough" wrote:

The message
from Black Shuck contains these words:

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.

You don't want the total-barrier kind, which doesn't let water through.
Nurseries use the permeable woven kind, which you can buy in much
wider widths than 1 metre. Since you're covering a fair area, it would
be cheaper to buy yourself a roll of 3 or 4 m width direct from the
manufacturer, than via a builder's merchant. Plus, you'll get it
delivered. Ask your local plant nursery who their supplier is.

You might as well weedkill the lawn and weeds btw, and save yourself
all that labour before laying the membrane.

Janet.


I'm a bit concerned about what the OP wants to do in terms of the value of
the house to him. If he intends to stay there until his own personal
Domesday, fine. But if he ever intends to sell it and move on, I think he's
lowering the value of the house rather a lot. Most people who buy a house
with a garden want a garden. They don't want 8x8 of impacted soil,
weedkilled and covered in a membrane and a load of gravel. They might want
a lawn for children to play on etc. but not the expense of putting all that
back.
Would it be so very difficult to kill off the weeds, turn the soil and turf
or seed a new lawn and mow it once or twice a week, at most? This isn't a
very large area, after all. What about having lawn with a paved area around
much of it for pots of plants and a sitting out bit and a bit of water in
the middle or in a corner? My step daughter has a tiny garden but has a
'snail shell' shaped path for her small child's bike riding from the edge to
the middle, and a fence with climbers up it. She wants nothing more.
I just have this horrid feeling that gravel only with a few pots is going to
look like a municipal cemetery and that a new gardener might not have a
'vision' of that as the finished article. To me, it sounds rather bleak, I
suppose, especially in our normally prevailing weather.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds after garden to email me)