Re: Convolvulus arvensis and cardboard / newspaper

Hi,

I'll add my $000.02 worth on this issue.

I think the woven landscape fabric would work under the raised beds. Where I live here in N. Calif. many people use hardware cloth, a steel grid that keeps out gophers. If you don't have gophers I wonder why you would need the fabric under the beds. Here's another idea - I've found creating mound islands surrounded by road base gravel with the fabric beneath works well and is good looking. Of course, you have to plan the road-base paths to be crested in the center with the sides offering drainage, and a path pattern that leads the water away.

I'm a sceptic concerning using the fabric for weed control. I've found that weeds germinate on top of the fabric and their roots grow through. You pull the weeds and the fabric pulls up. This is assuming you have a layer of mulch on top of the fabric. In this case the mulch can't degrade and improve the soil. Putting a layer of newspaper sections or cardboard with the mulch above works very well. You add mulch as it degrades and the soil improves. The garden soil work is then shoveling rather than tilling. The fabric was originally made as a separator, it keeps road-base from becoming incorporated into the soil below. I think this is the best use for the fabric.

With invasive plants such as bindweed and bermuda grass, I use Roundup (glysophate). It's the only herbicide I use, and that as a last resort, but I've found that the herbicide method is the only way to really get rid of these horrible invaders roots and all.

Steve French
Sebastopol, California

On Jan 6, 2006, at 8:55 PM, susannah wrote:

Hello folks,

You all were awfully kind to me with advice 2 years ago when I posted about having purchased a place infested with bindweed. Several possible ways of treating it were discussed, and I settled on having the top layer of soil excavated and replaced, as we were doing constuction on the site anyway. It did help -- though not as complete an eradication as I'd hoped, the seedbank and roots seem to be significantly diminished.

My garden plants have been waiting patiently in containers for 2 years while the yard was full of bulldozers and lumber, and are now eager to go into the ground. My plan is to have high (24-inch) raised beds, with gravel paths in between. (The high beds are for drainage; I won't bore you with the details.) I'll put "contractor-grade" weed barrier fabric under the gravel and the rock walls surrounding the beds to keep the bindweed from coming up.

I'm trying to figure out what to put under the soil inside the beds. I could use the same barrier fabric, which should work well (I hope!), but that will prevent the larger plants from growing deeper for water. These beds will be wide, as well as deep, and some of the plants will be large-growing cistus, sagebrush, and others that will likely want to dig. Another option would be to use multiple layers of cardboard or newspaper. This has worked well for me in lawns, but has anyone here tried it with C. arvensis? I'm frightened!

Thanks much for any responses,

-- Susannah

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