Re(2): What is "low maintenance?"

theryans@xtra.co.nz writes:
>There is no way as I see it that one could for instance maintain dry
>creekbed areas as open pebbled or sandy ground without either copious
>applications of weedkiller or regular merticulous stirring and weeding.
>
Well for my dry creek bed, we are using a porous weed barrier under the
pebbles (we also weeded first of course :). Now i know that it won't be
totally weed free. For instance, i am seeing under the pebbles the clay
residue that gets washed off every time i water. However, it is a small
size (IMHO :), it's only about 50 feet in length), and weeds are easier to
spot in the gravel.  I did notice a couple of weeks ago when i pulled up
part of the weed barrier (to lower the stream in one spot, so our bridge
wasn't sitting on the gravel) a lot of weed seeds were germinating, but
they were yellow and starting to rot because of the moisture there. I
havent seen any getting through the weed barrier.

I also agree, places that are devoid of weeds in nature have soils that
constantly move. In the local beaches, the dunes that dont move would
become covered in native dune plants (disregarding that theres iceplant
that's growing on it now). River washes remain weed free because they
either flood for half of the year and the weeds die from submersion (as in
Arroyo Seco down south), or the gravels and sands get moved with seasonal
rains and flash floods. In a home garden, these things don't happen, so
the home gardener must  do some weeding  to keep the "beach garden" or
"desert garden" free of weeds. 

In my area, any plant free space quickly becomes colonized by European
annual grasses, dandelions, and other weeds. Sometimes native "weeds" do
become established, such as the Sky Lupine (L. nanus, which i keep seeing
more plants each year. Hopefully they'll come back). 
>
>There is a modified version still around involving porous weedmat and
>bark chips. Interestingly, pentration of air and water can't be too
>effective even with the weedmat, as I have found gardens in which the
>plants were still climbing out of their straitjacket and producing roots
>in the mulch above it..

I didn't put a weed mat under the mulch in the parts of the yard that are
going to be planted with Manzanitas. The weed barrier keeps moisture in
too well, keeps air out, and their roots would rot.

Witht he mulch in, i have noticed less weeds coming in It was put in weeks
ago, and with the watering i have been doing, i havent seen one dandelion
at all. I do know that mulch must be applied regularly since it does break
down, and thin spots develop. But it does help keep some weeds out. I have
seen lots of places where they mulched once, and then did nothing, and the
mulch is full of annual grasses and other weeds. On the other hand, at my
school they regularly apply eucalyptus mulch (free from all the eucalypts
here), and i haven seen any weeds growing in the beds where they applied
it. 

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