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First. There is no such thing as a no maintenance landscape. In many instances landscape fabric can make your life a lot easier. However, there is an upside and a downside to using it. And as with most everything else, proper installation and maintenance is required if you intend to use it. Landscape fabrics have their applications. They aren't necessary in all applications but might be preferred in regards to the type of groundcover you use. Our company uses weed barrier in 95% of the designs we create. It's the nature of our business as we use decorative rock as the preferred groundcover around here. When using rock for groundcover and path work, it's necessary to have a separator between the soil and groundcover. Otherwise, you'll have mud rocks by the first rain storm. In theory you should be able to use almost anything as a separator. I've seen do it yourselfers use anything from plastics to newspapers and cardboard boxes to old carpet remnants. Of course, as a professional, I can't use or even suggest something like this to my clients. You're on your own there. Now personally, on any given project, I would much rather do away with fabrics altogether. I prefer to create living soil planting areas that are mulched and tended rather than being covered and forgotten. However, some areas are simply too large to apply this method and some folks just outright prefer to cover an area with decorative rock. Both mulched living beds and rock beds underlain with fabric will require some work to keep them beautiful. Neither is maintenance free. As long as there is wind, rain dirt, and blown in seed, there will be something for you to do in your yard. When we create a design using landscaping fabric and rock, I make the client aware of a few things. 1) There will be blown in seed and dirt. 2) Something will have to be done about it to keep it from accumulating. I assure them that with the quality of fabric we use, nothing will grow in from the bottom. However, we have no control of what blows in on the top. Spraying the unwanted weeds with herbicide will take care of the weed problem. However, this does nothing for the dirt, leaf, and plant particles that are hiding under your rocks. And if you allow these to accumulate, they'll continue to accumulate and you will never get rid of them. So periodic maintenance is required even if you do use landscaping fabric. Periodically using a blower on your bedding areas will slow down the accumulation of dirt and in some cases eliminate it altogether. How easy and thorough this is depends a lot on the type and size of rock you use. Small pea gravel accumulates and holds onto dirt, and is harder to clean than rock of a 1 ½' + nature. Not only does it hold onto dirt but has a tendency to be blown all around when being cleaned with a blower. Pea gravel works well for paths, walkways, and smaller areas but I don't recommend it for covering larger areas. As far as using landscape fabric under bark and mulch covered beds? In many cases this can actually be easier to take care of than living beds or rock covered areas as it can easily be picked up and replaced every few years. This will keep your landscape always looking new without having to blow dirt or mulch beds.
Remember. There's no such thing as a no maintenance landscape. Landscape fabrics can make things easier in many applications but like everything else, they require a little bit of keeping up. No, they aren't necessary in all landscaping applications. However, I believe you'll find them to be your best choice for many types of groundcover. |
More Articles:1. 10 Great Gardening Tips & Ideas 10 Great Gardening Tips & Ideas Well my gardening friends, spring is once again nearly upon us, early flowers such as snowdrops are already in bloom and the daffodil's are rearing their heads, so here's a nice handy collection of my favourite gardening tips & ideas that may make life in your garden that little bit easier, or at least show you that gardening doesn't have to be expensive to be enjoyed. I've amassed these 10 tips over my many years of being an avid amateur gardener, and nature-lovi… 2. Garden Fencing I made my very first garden when I was six in a small corner at the end of my grandmother's garden. It was a small patch, not more than six rows by 10 plants long, but it was MINE, with the flowers I picked and the dirt that I dug. And I knew that it was mine when Nana helped me put up the sections of wire fencing that set it off from HER garden. Garden fencing can serve many purposes, but one of the best is to accent and define areas of your garden. Whether you choose a six or twelve inch high … 3. Vegetable Garden Ideas The first year I lived in a 'real house' I was excited to get a garden started. I just couldn't wait until spring when I could plant all kinds of veggies. While this seems like a good idea, it really wasn't. Being a new gardner, I let my excitement get the best of me. Luckily, part of my family made sure I still had a very nice garden that year. Here are a few tips I learned: 1. Make sure you have enough room Some plants get bigger than others, and take up more space. Make sure you give certain… 4. Lower Landscaping Costs With A Stumpgrinder Homeowners and business owners who deal with trees, and a lot of them, can often find themselves in need of a stump grinder. But considering it's such a specialized piece of machinery, many don't know how to go about picking one out. Nor, do they realize the value of searching for a used stump grinder to do the job. Generally, those who need stump grinders for commercial purposes go for large machines that must also be towed. They are meant to quickly burn through wood and enable the fast remova… |
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