On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 20:43:12 +0000, boing wrote:
Hello,

Looking for some advice, for a few years now I have been trying to
lay a decent lawn with little success. The area has been for a very
long time home to all sorts of angry looking weeds and although I
have cleared them and used all sorts of toxic stuff, they still
come back. I don't need advice on how to get rid of them I've had
all sorts from experts up and down the country in 3 years. Now I
am just fedup and want to try something I've invented myself so
here's the question (at long last you say);

I'm not a gardner but I have used that black cloth covering stuff
to block out weeds around my boarders and that seems to work well.
My plan for the lawn is to dig it up (again) and lay some of the
black covering cloth down. Then I plan to put the turf right on
top. The idea being while the weeds can't get up the grass roots
should be able to dig down. I'm sure I'm have to water it very well
for a while.

Will it work ?

Can anyone help ?

I hate to be boring, but your logic is not new and I've seen the
results of similar logic actually put to the test the results of which
have been a yellow lawn the following season, followed by a brown lawn
then no lawn at all.

Its just not going to work in the long term, true the blackout will
kill any weeds underneath, and a good quality turf will probably be
grown on a good quality loam which may sustain the lawn for a couple
of seasons, but what about weed seeds that settle on top of your new
lawn?

Not all weeds are of a tap rooting nature and if tap rooting weeds set
in your new lawn they will still survive and grow (they maybe easier
to pull out of course, if you notice them).

Its a misnomer that weed suppressing material (blackout) stops weeds
growing. What it does is stop weeds establishing long enough for you
to notice them and pull them out (which is easy because they can't
root themselves, hence the name "weed suppressing".

Weeds still grow in one of my boarders which is covered with blackout
which is topped with bark chipping's, but at least they don't
establish and are flicked out easily.

I realise that your problem is not being able to mow the lawn
regularly which, as far as I know is the only effective way of keeping
a weed free lawn.

I do sincerely wish I could give you a more positive answer, but in
all honesty I can't.



Regards Jeff.

www.astrecks.co.uk

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