"Warren" wrote in message
news
hfJc.90699$Oq2.50118@attbi_s52...
Landscaping fabric is porous, so the water should penetrate. (Sheets of
plastic that don't allow water penetration would be used to kill
everything under them by solarization.)
If you haven't done a good job of removing the perennial weeds under the
fabric, you're still going to be weeding all the time. They'll come
through the seams, and the holes you cut out for the plants, and
eventually the strong ones will work through the fabric which weakens
over time.
As for the nuggets, you're going to find that you can't lay them on
thick enough to hide the fabric underneath, and you'll need to replace
them at least every year. They won't help one bit in keeping weeds down,
either. But as they break down, and leaves and other organic material
falls in them, you're going to get weeds growing on top of the fabric,
and their roots are going to further compromise the fabric -- especially
when you pull those weeds out.
If the area you're looking at planting only has a few weeds now, get rid
of them now, and go from there. If it has a lot of weeds, I would say
forget about planting this summer. Remove what you can. Scalp the rest.
Then put down overlapping newspaper, 8 layers thick (in other words, a
layer of 4 sheets, with another layer of 4 sheets with no matching
seams). Cover with two inches of compost or a good soil with a nice
organic content. An inch of shredded bark mulch on top of that will keep
it from washing away.
By fall you should be able to get in there with a trowel or mattock, and
plant any bulbs, perennials or shrubs that are appropriate for fall
planting. Do the remaining planting in spring. If you really like the
look of the nuggets, put them down in spring over what's left of the
shredded bark that kept the soil from eroding. You'll need fewer nuggets
because you won't need to completely hid the shredded bark under them.
You'll still have to do some weeding, but no more than you would if you
had used the fabric. And most of the weeds will be shallow rooted in the
soil on top of the newspaper, and will come out with little effort.
Eventually the newspaper will decompose. The weed roots and seeds under
the newspaper will have died and decomposed, too (assuming that you
didn't just lay the newspaper on top of a bumper crop of weeds without
first pulling and mowing.)
Following this method will cost less than putting down expensive fabric,
and trying to keep it covered. As for time, if it's a small area, there
isn't any difference. For a larger area, laying down the newspaper is a
little slower than rolling-out fabric. (Cover it with the compost or
soil as you go so it doesn't blow away.) But compared to how much time
and money you'd spend to keep the fabric from showing through your
nuggets, it's still a pretty good trade-off.
BTW... Dirt is the crud that covers things that aren't clean. Soil is
what plants grow in.
I concur on all points. I hesitantly used the fabric on one bed a couple of yrs.
ago and have regretted it ever since. It's not that easy to work with to start
off and doesn't do that great of a job keeping out weeds. Nut sedge comes right
thru it.
Weed seeds blowing through the air or deposited by birds will come right up
also. I did part of the same bed with only about 4 layers of newspaper and it's
performed at least as well, if not better than the fabric.
I also concur on the bark nuggets. It take a lot of them to get a decent enough
depth to deter weeds. I'm going with shredded cedar next time around.
Tyler