My detached garage is only a few feet from my neighbor's detached
garage and every summer there is a ton of overgrowth of weeds and
little trees between and behind our garages. I spend several hours a
week pulling weeds and cutting things just to keep it under control.
This is not an area that is viewable from the street, but I don't want
the weeds and trees damaging my garage. Does anyone have any
suggestions on how to limit the growth of this stuff and cut down on
the amount of maintenance I have to do to keep it under control? Any
ideas will be appreciated. Thanks for your help!

Thanks,

Brian

My neighbor had the same problem. Her soil was easy to cultivate in that
spot, so she got a weeding tool which cut the growth UNDER the soil line,
which is what YOU have to do, to begin with. When winter finally killed
everything, she cleaned up as much as possible and put down a layer of pond
liner. Places that sell pond supplies can sell you the stuff from a roll, so
you can buy as much as you need. It's black, thick rubber (or some material)
that's extremely tough. Lay that down and cover with paving stones or
whatever fits your budget. Even a few bags of mulch would be enough to keep
the rubber in place. In my neighbor's situation, just an occasional weed
pokes up around the edges, but it's rare.

"Brian" wrote in message
om...
My detached garage is only a few feet from my neighbor's detached
garage and every summer there is a ton of overgrowth of weeds and
little trees between and behind our garages. I spend several hours a
week pulling weeds and cutting things just to keep it under control.
This is not an area that is viewable from the street, but I don't want
the weeds and trees damaging my garage. Does anyone have any
suggestions on how to limit the growth of this stuff and cut down on
the amount of maintenance I have to do to keep it under control? Any
ideas will be appreciated. Thanks for your help!

Thanks,

Brian

In article ,
(Brian) wrote:

My detached garage is only a few feet from my neighbor's detached
garage and every summer there is a ton of overgrowth of weeds and
little trees between and behind our garages. I spend several hours a
week pulling weeds and cutting things just to keep it under control.
This is not an area that is viewable from the street, but I don't want
the weeds and trees damaging my garage. Does anyone have any
suggestions on how to limit the growth of this stuff and cut down on
the amount of maintenance I have to do to keep it under control? Any
ideas will be appreciated. Thanks for your help!

Thanks,

Brian

Put cardboard boxes down to smother all plant life, & cover the cardboard
with fully composted manure so it looks humusy & pleasant Almost nothing
will seed in pure manure compost because it would need to be mixed with
dirt to be suitable for plant growth.

A year later, when the cardboard is worm-eaten to nothing, upturn the
by-then plant-free soil & work the manure into the soil a bit, then plant
a sturdy shade-tolerant one to two-foot-tall groundcover such as
Pachysandra which can keep anything else from growing in that spot. I'm
assuming it's a shady spot; if it's sunny you'd have even more choices
groundcovesr or creeping vines. This method should result in the area
rarely ever needing further attention.

You could alternatively arrange some flagstones to create a little path &
fill the area with space-appropriate perennials or dwarf evergreen trees
or swordferns -- turning it into a real garden instead of unused ground
that just invites weeds.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com

yup... pond liner, layers of newspapers, weed barrier, concrete, etc.

you want a barrier that they won't grow through.

Things to consider:
Where is the runnoff going to go if you use a less permiable barrier?
What kind of monitary/time investment do you want to make?
With anything "permanent" think about local codes. (since this is a
property border)

good luck.

--
be safe.
flip
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"Philip Edward Lewis" wrote in message
du...

of course paghat's "impermiable layer" of groundcover is great too....
it'll likely look much nicer, but will likely require at least a little
more
work over time. I've not alot of expereance with the groundcovers in
that enviroment, but i know i've seen weeds, etc popping through some
pretty thick stuff.

There will be weeds in groundcover, especially the first few years.
Eventually, they will all but disappear. You can use a preemergent
herbicide to control annual weeds. Preen has a formulation for
groundcover. The worst situation is when you get a vining weeds in a vining
groundcover. I have an area of vinca that became invaded with a sequence of
wild honeysuckle, then persicaria, and finally wild strawberry. I still get
the occasional volunteer tree or perennial in the area, but they are easy to
control. Hostas are one of the best groundcovers for me. They block out
the sun so completely that I never get weeds in areas that are thickly
planted with hostas. There are hostas that will grow in about any condition
with the exception of standing water, especial in winter. I find that gold
standard is a good grower and it will brighten a shady area. Lancifolia
also grows like a weed as does aureo-marginata and undulata mediovariegata.
I get good results with hosta shade fanfare in full sun. Lancifolia also
thrives in full sun but does equally well in mostly shade.