RE: Weed barrier cloth
- To:
- Subject: RE: Weed barrier cloth
- From: M* D*
- Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2001 12:13:55 -0800
- Importance: Normal
Janet,
I think the Sweet Woodruff would do OK on top of the weed barrier cloth in
say 4" of soil - no need to poke holes. It is not deep rooted, but has a
mat of roots spread out like a pancake. The pancake just keeps getting
bigger and bigger. In winter when it is dormant, I can use a garden rake to
hook the mat and pull large sheets of it out. (this is the way I finally got
it all out of my rose border) You can take any size piece of the pancake and
plant it and it will take off.
It just occurred to me that you might be talking about a weed barrier cloth
that is impregnated with some sort of weed killer. I don't even know if
something like that exists.
My experience with just ordinary weed barrier underneath a gravel pathway
is that the weed seeds still float in there and sprout and do just fine!
BUT, they are a lot easier to pull out because they are so shallow rooted
:). In fact I find baby plants of every kind imaginable sprouting in the
gravel paths around the raised nursery beds. I think I have been using the
wrong seed starting medium. To heck with that fine peat / fine perlite and
sand mix! Just throw the seeds around on all the gravel paths and let er
rip! (of course plant ID could be a bit of a problem) :)
Marilyn Dube'
Natural Designs Nursery
Hardy Perennials, Choice Tropicals
Portland, OR Zone 8b
>
>
> A while back I asked about using weed barrier cloth and received
> helpful information from several experienced users.
> One gardener said that the cloth can be covered with soil, because
> any weeds that sprount in the soil layer cannot penetrate the
> cloth and
> will die.
> Does this mean that groundcover plants will not work with barrier
> cloth? I was planning to put down the cloth, poke holes for
> the existing
> plants, cover the cloth with soil, then poke holes every 12" for plugs
> of woodruff (Galium odoratum). The cloth would prevent underground
> spreading, of course, but I was counting on the Galium taking root on
> top of the cloth wherever it touches the soil. Now it sounds as though
> the cloth will kill off the new Galium.
>
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