This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Weed suppressant fabric and cut flower patch
gerrard.kate
Posts: 22
Hi everyone,
I have an incredibly weedy walled veggie garden, which I manage through a mixture of weed suppressant fabric through the non-growing season and regular rotovation. I gave up a couple of veggie beds this year to create a cut flower patch, including planting a lot of perennial bulbs (daffodils, tulips, gladioli).
Now we're going into autumn and there's no way I could hand weed the beds enough to make them as beautiful as I'd want! If I rotovate I'll just dig up the bulbs. Can I cover with weed suppressant fabric say until December to help kill off whatever's there now, and then uncover and still get a decent crop of daffodils etc? Any other suggestions?
Thank you!
Kate
0
Posts
I was going to suggest a good hoe and mulch but Verdun beat me to it.
If I could hoe it away I would! Imagine trying to hoe your entire lawn away - I get beds full of grass.
Appreciate the use of membrane is a personal choice, although I was asking about efficacy of the choice in this particular case (as certainly does manage weeds pretty well for me in other circumstances) rather than whether people like it or not. Not sure how it can be protested against on environmental grounds in the same breath as suggesting I use glysophate...
hi gerrard kate iam one of people who like membrane I grow 100s of onions and have had the trouble with weeds in onions what I do and a few will think I am wrong ..before I put it down give the ground a good spraying with a good glyphosate weed killer when weeds die off I allways give ground a good dose of growmore and leave for a few days before I put membrane down I give it a good few handfuls of chicken manure pellets then put down membrane . but as I say it works for me so I can not say the on thing I do every couple years is put a lot of pigeon muck on and dig it in ( but I do not know if the soil goes stale as I have not noticed Michael hope it helps
Last edited: 07 September 2016 19:39:08
hi verdum I do not leave membrane down all year when I take up onions up I do turn it over every year I know what you mean though sorry if I gave the impression that I left down all year //// I make a new onion bed every year even if it is in same place but the ground has a good 6mts open to elements some will say do not keep in same place ..I have been in this garden for 7yrs had no trouble when I lived in Stockton same there no trouble but as the saying goes can not please every body once again sorry if I gave the impression that I left it down all year Michael
And rain and dead plant material which is what the soil organisms - worms, bacteria, fungi - that make up healthy soil eat. All of which is stopped by a membrane. I've tried using the stuff for paths and it's a nightmare, in my experience. It doesn't stop weeds, it just makes them harder to get out.
For your situation, if it was me, I'd strim the weeds right down to soil then cover that with a thick - at least 4" - layer of compost (if you look up 'no dig' systems this is a classic way to restore a neglected area under that system). You will find some perennial weeds will come back - docks and nettles especially - and you'll need to either spot treat those or dig them out as they appear. But the annuals and grass will generally not regrow, or not in quantity. You get a few each year as you disturb the deeper soil and a few seeds get to the surface.
Hopefully that puts you in a better case to keep on top of the weeding next year. But you will have to weed it - there is no option which keeps soil and plants healthy and prevents any weeds from growing. If you don't want to use chemicals then you have to do it by hand.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
michael mpc is describing a system to suppress weeds while the crop is growing. The out of season work - digging over and adding manure - is letting the soil breathe and adding food for worms and I'm guessing that the 'out of season' period is autumn and winter when weeds are as little inclined to grow as anything else. Weeds are just plants, they grow when other plants grow. So if you don't cover your soil when the weeds are flowering - i.e. when your bulbs are dying back, a process you need to allow - then you will have a stock of weed seeds sitting on your soil, waiting for you to take the cover off in Spring and wey-hey - off they'll go again.
If you want the most environmentally approach, follow the no-dig principles.
If you want the easiest approach, grow your bulbs in pots
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I agree that the weed membrane stuff is bloody rubbish. Always fails. I have a pebbled border underneath which is membrane and horsetail popping through it everywhere.
in the middle of this pebbled membrane crap is a lawn, where the horsetail is never to be seen. I've no doubt if I didn't have this hardscaped nonsense and it was pure soil or filled with other plants it wouldn't be able to thrive.
so I'd like to say a big thanks to whoever laid the membrane, and the free horsetail plant I received !