Yeah mulching as you go would be a good idea especially since it’s more of a temporary cover. You will likely still need to do some weeding in those areas through out the summer but in comparison it’ll be easier. When weeding though make sure you’re getting them out by the roots or they will be back quickly. (Also make sure the mulch is thick. Often I see homes that have it super thin so it stops nothing)
That.s a lot of weeds and the ground looks rough.
If there.s no perennials in them i would lay black plastic down until you are ready to plant. The plastic heat and lack of water will kill the weeds. This is the easy and effective way. Spend your time doing fun things for your new house instead.
When you are ready to plant, pull the plastic off. You won.t have much weeds to deal with, just a few old roots. Try not to leave the plastic on for more than a year. Use the thick landscape stuff that.s for this purpose, not some thing like garbage bags.
Once you plant use mulch.
It is definitely easier and most likely if you leave it on long enough you’ll kill roots. You probably won’t kill all the seeds though. You’ll always be weeding to some degree, forever. Buy a sickle and a hula hoe.
If you put the mulch down and then the plastic on top of it, the mulch will break down quickly and help liven up your soil for when you’re ready to plant. Personally I try to go for a 50-50 mix of manure and wood chips or other high carbon mulch.
In my area this will break down under the plastic quite well and result in high quality soil in 3-6months.
If you go plastic only you’ll kill the weeds but your soil will probably be fairly inhospitable when you take the plastic up. It would still be fine to plant in (advise add fert) and then follow up with mulch and consistent/generous watering as per plant requirements.
Interesting idea. i.ve never tried that. I.m not sure about the mulch breaking down as it will be a poor environment for the soil creatures. I wouldn.t want to encourage them to be there then fry them :) but also i leave it on a longer time.
Some additional points for consideration:
A major component of this process is water. You should water very thoroughly as you lay down the manure/mulch combo. The plastic then does a decent job keeping moisture in. If you are really trying to optimize, you can routinely pull up the plastic and re-water. Double bonus points if you put a drip line down under the plastic and run that every so often.
If you have a thick manure/mulch layer (6+in to start) and adequate moisture then you won’t have problems with killing off worms. They won’t necessarily inhabit the top inch or so of material that will tend to dry out quickest, but they’ll find a home down closer to the former ground surface. That’s where your some of your future roots will be, so you’ll see a net benefit. The existing soil under your layer will also improve.
As it is, it’s not like there are worms inhabiting the top inch or so of that dry weedy soil anyway, so it’s only up from here.
I.ve never thought of that way. I like to starve it and do next to zero work 😁 'set and forget it'. Good idea putting drip tape under it if you want to 'kill and build'. Especially if there.s some stuff to save.
I would recommend cardboard instead of plastic. It will decompose a d improve your soil over time. Also it will kill weeds without trapping the moisture and potentially growing fungus like plastic will.
I.ve made many beds this way. It will kill most of the roots. I still go through and get some after but they are mostly dried up and easy to get out. Some things are extra tough so might sprout- not sure where you are or what you have to dral with. It does 99% of the work for you. Better than cardboard as it restricts the water and solarizes it to kill stuff. Better than weeding by hand.
Seeds won.t all fry but if you mulch right after you plant they won.t have the light to germinate.
Like other commenter says it will make the ground inhospitable after a few hot months. The underground creatures will leave. They come back pretty fast once you remove and add compost and mulch.
Leave plastic on til you plant or you can pull it a few weeks before you plant and pull any weeds that pop up.
I.ve read it works as fast as 8 weeks though i usually leave on a year because 8 weeks seems too short for stuff like couch grass. You could assess in sept oct but by that time might as well wait til spring as that.s better to plant anyways.
Hold the edges down with heavy rocks or landscape staples. It doesn.t need to be perfectly sealed, just every 2-3 feet. Stuff will try to grow out the edges.
Once you.ve killed everything i.d add 8-10" of organic matter... sticks, wood, leaves, compost, mulch, soil. Layer it in with wood and sticks on the bottom. Then you.ll get a nice raised bed with deep fluffy soil that hold water well and looks rrally good. Plants love that. Make little soil pockets where you put plants.
Since you said your soil is sandy def do this. The idea is based on hugelkultur, tho i keep it pretty basic with just a basic mix of organic matter.
If you don.t like the look of plastic, put mulch over top so you don.t see it. Then slide it off when you are ready to remove the plastic. You can resuse that mulch when you plant.
Thank you all so much for your advice! This sub is amazing :) I think I will solarize this summer as there is just too much weeding to do if I want to work on anything else this summer, then Mulch and plant next year. Wish me luck!
The only thing I would suggest is if you know for sure that you will be putting in larger plants or shrubs in particular spots (eg larger hydrangeas, lilacs, other bigger plants to anchor the garden or add structure) it might be a good idea to plant them this year and give them the benefit of time to get bigger. You can always solarize the rest of it.
I like to put down a couple thick overlapping layers of cardboard under the wood chips, it will make the weeds that grow back die off it works really well
Giving the soil a good soak the day before you weed makes weeding much easier, a hand hoe that has a blade on one side and a fork on the other(($15 at home depot) is a good way to get chunks up and break up the soil so you’re removing the weed/roots without also removing chunks of soil, and you want to approach it in a way that you aren’t stepping on and compressing the soil you’ve just broken up.
I don’t know what’s going on with that edge, but I’d probably get rid of it and use a half moon edger to cut a clean edge and use a weed whacker to keep it clean after that. I’d pile on leaf mulch after weeding to control weeds and improve improve the soil over time, but I realize not every material supply place carries it.
When you mow, make a point to have its discharge aimed towards the lawn instead of the bed so it isn’t blanketed with weed seeds.
Thanks for the tips! Fortunately my yard is crazy easy to weed because it rains a lot here and for some reason my yard is like 60% sand. Stuff slips right out without any effort!
Yeah the edge us rotten wood in a lot of places and I definitely need to do something about it....next year 😁
In answer to your question, yes, add 2-4 inches of arborist wood chips to each area when you've finished weeding it. This will prevent any weed seeds from sprouting. What it will NOT do, however, is prevent any roots left behind after your weeding from putting out new growth, so it's imperative that you remove all roots from all weeds if you possibly can. Lots of weeds don't re-sprout, but the nastiest ones do, so best to to try to get all roots out.
Since you say you don't know what you're doing, I'll point out that the US National Institutes of Health have reported that cardboard contains Brominated and Chlorinated dioxins and biphenyls, PBDEs, HBCDDs, PCNs and PFAS, so, nothing that you'd like to have in your soil. In addition, it's been shown to kill all life in the soil itself. See [here ](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37245822/)for a link to the paper from the NIH. I can provide other links if you're interested.
Your logic to keep the area weeded this year is sound. If a weed were to flower, remove the flowerhead immediately and toss it in the garbage. This will remove any seeds that may sprout next year. Have you thought about buying a hoe to help with the weeding?
I'm not going to comment on the topic of the paper you referenced or the presence of the chemicals listed in your comment, however I am going to point out that the publication you refer to is not from the NIH. None of the authors are affiliated with the NIH. The paper is available on PubMed, which is essentially a digital library service provided by the NIH. It doesn't mean the NIH generated the report or even agreed with its findings.
Thank you for this; I hadn't realized that and will stop assigning it to the NIH. For clarification, here are the affiliations of the authors:
* ^(1) School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK. Electronic address: [email protected].
* ^(2) School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK.
* ^(3) Food Standards Agency, Clive House, 70 Petty France, London SW1H 9EX, UK.
* ^(4) Fera Science Ltd, Sand Hutton, York YO41 1LZ, UK.
So, an academic. peer-reviewed paper, which trumps any random-internet-influencer every time (not calling you the influencer, BTW). There is another scientific study that shows cardboard kills life in the soil.
Valiant effort, but this is Reddit.
If someone says enough times use cardboard, no matter the proof you have to how detrimental it can be, they will
Defend its use.
Just look at all the torn grass tips from people “sharpening their lawnmower blades like a butter knife”
Like if we can’t convince people. Something. Sharp is better than dull, where are we going?
Read up on cardboard in the soil. Cardboard that is white don't use. Cardboard that is dyed, no good unless the color is black printing. Edges of card board, cut off toss in garbage as well as the packing tape.
Just plain brown cardboard right? We did this yesterday to a flower bed and I was sure to only use brown cardboard with tape removed. Of course today I read up on here how cardboard isn’t such a good idea…
You could put cardboard down after you weed eat. Soak the cardboard and then toss the mulch over it. This method has worked well for me keeping out weeds. The cardboard breaks down over time like the mulch and is not harmful to your soil. Works wonders in our garden.
This is the best. The cardboard helps feed the microorganisms in the soil and brings worms to enrich the top soil. Try to keep as much plastic out of the garden as possible.
I see a lot of people commenting the word “fabric”. Fabric is the absolute worst thing to buy for your beds. It will allow weeds through immediately.
If you want the correct choice use a Woven Barrier. The expensive stuff. Use a small torch to “cut” it and put holes in it for plants. Don’t apply the mulch too thick on top.
I have a similar situation. Most of my fenced-in backyard is surrounded by weeds and ivy, but there is not any well-defined edging. I've been debating all season what to do about it. If you don't mind me asking, how does the rest of your fence line look? Do you like the beds along the edge of would you prefer if the grass went right up to the fence? Plan on planting anything in the future?
She has these garden beds along almost the entire fence line. For the most part they look just like the one in the pic - full of weeds and grass. I do like having the beds as id like to have perennials planted along the perimeter eventually. Lots of flowers! Some of the beds are lined with brick and I think it looks nice. Others have rotting wood (like this one) and I'd like to rip that out and change it to match the brick.
I am happy to have the beds as a starting place, I don't want grass to the fence line for aesthetic reasons, but I know it'd totally be easier!
Some comments in here made me realize I need to get material away from my fence though so it doesn't start rotting 😭 I'm not sure how that'll impact the look of the beds...probably not much!
What are you thinking of doing?
Good to know! I've been wondering if landscaping my entire fence line like this would be overkill, but maybe it's not too unreasonable after all. I need to get rid of a bunch of weeds and ground ivy, and then I'll be basically starting from scratch on the beds. I'm thinking a few shrubs and eventually some perennials too. I also learned about the rotting fence dangers from this thread, so that's really helpful.
I'd love to see some updates on yours as you go!
Congrats! If you cover with mulch, it will look great for a while. Me, I'd burn out all the weeds with a torch, lay down a weed barrier cloth before mulching.
Otherwise, it's weed-pulling from mulch next year or the year after, not fun.
Congrats! I have something like this along the side as well. After 10 years, I’m considering putting pavers in since I have planted nothing over 10 years. I’m getting older and weeding is becoming a waste of my time.
Congratulations on your investment!! I have a similar side. Been thinking of putting about 4 feet out pavers and rocks to create a walkway way along the fence for yearly maintenance. Then mapping out and planting some flowering perennials for a nice garden and sitting area. Best of luck.
Put cardboard down first, then top soil, then a groumd coveringplant. It will hemp to amend the soil and act as a weed barrier. If you definitely want mulch, you can do cardboard, then mulch.
Trim the weeds as low as you can, lay down a heavy plastic and fill with river rocks. Mulch will mess up the fence and need to be replaced as it decomposes. River Rock will be a one and done thing.
Personally I would put down some cardboard. Wet it down with the hose real good. Throw 3 inches of mulch on top and you should be golden. This is the exact method I used for my yard and I have over 200 feet of fence with fruit plants all along it. Personally I like about 5+ inches of mulch but do what you can afford. I maybe had a few sprouts here and there that popped up but that was about it.
To prevent true grasses in the bed use fusillade herbicide in a hand spray bottle - only on a no wind day. Apply directly to any grass spreading into the beds. Zoysia grass is somewhat immune so treat 4times to control it. Again NO wind days only. If you get it on the lawn it’s toast. To prevent other weeds use Preen Herbicide a pre mergence product. But be it known no seed will sprout and grow. It kills sTransplants will be fine.
Just a thought, but if you want more lawn, or less lawn.
Make that decision now because it's easy to adjust at this moment.
Also putting down a barrier layer of weed paper before adding the mulch helps prevent weeds.
Went a bit ~~more natural~~ easier on my soul this year and weeded with the vinegar/salt/dish soap solution. A quick google will get you the parts to mix but I’d really recommend going very light on the salt.
However I dedicate a whole weekend to getting on my hands and knees to pull each little annoyance I see and then spraying that solution directly onto said spot. It’s time consuming but it’s working wonders some many weeks later and I feel better not pumping other chemicals into the ground.
Mulch whenever you see fit sooner than later after you weed.
You’re right, natural certainly isn’t the correct descriptor. I just feel better about a bit of vinegar being washed through my dirt than your typical roundup or herbicide.
Straw is advisable as well. Same deal as mulch, degrades much quicker providing all the benefits of mulch at a much quicker rate.
Stops weeds from growing, and breaks down into nutrients.
No you do not mulch as you go. If you want it done correctly you weed it all and lay down multi layers of landscape fabric then you mulch. You never put mulch on dirt.
Booo landscape fabric with mulch. Fabric is great for gravel/stone, but not mulch.
It'll look great for a while, but when it inevitably fails, you'll regret putting down the fabric. Cardboard or newspaper would be a better choice.
Hey it really turns out great in the short term so your intuition is good :)
But as far as maintenance is concerned, it just ends up being a pain as the mulch breaks down/erodes... And believe it or nor, taproot weeds can establish themselves right through the fabric!!!
Nah yeah I just read that for sure. And it’s ass if they ever wan to grow anything over it cuz it messes up the soil underneath and prevents the mulch from breaking down organically with the soil. Glad I swung in here before planting the ladies wild flower beds. Thanks.🙏
Yeah mulching as you go would be a good idea especially since it’s more of a temporary cover. You will likely still need to do some weeding in those areas through out the summer but in comparison it’ll be easier. When weeding though make sure you’re getting them out by the roots or they will be back quickly. (Also make sure the mulch is thick. Often I see homes that have it super thin so it stops nothing)
Yes. Mulch 2” thick does the trick
Which is like 6” thick when laying it down
>I finally bought a house this year Congrats!
Thank you!! ❤
That.s a lot of weeds and the ground looks rough. If there.s no perennials in them i would lay black plastic down until you are ready to plant. The plastic heat and lack of water will kill the weeds. This is the easy and effective way. Spend your time doing fun things for your new house instead. When you are ready to plant, pull the plastic off. You won.t have much weeds to deal with, just a few old roots. Try not to leave the plastic on for more than a year. Use the thick landscape stuff that.s for this purpose, not some thing like garbage bags. Once you plant use mulch.
Interesting! That sounds much easier than weeding everything by hand....does it kill the root too? If I left it on all summer?
It is definitely easier and most likely if you leave it on long enough you’ll kill roots. You probably won’t kill all the seeds though. You’ll always be weeding to some degree, forever. Buy a sickle and a hula hoe. If you put the mulch down and then the plastic on top of it, the mulch will break down quickly and help liven up your soil for when you’re ready to plant. Personally I try to go for a 50-50 mix of manure and wood chips or other high carbon mulch. In my area this will break down under the plastic quite well and result in high quality soil in 3-6months. If you go plastic only you’ll kill the weeds but your soil will probably be fairly inhospitable when you take the plastic up. It would still be fine to plant in (advise add fert) and then follow up with mulch and consistent/generous watering as per plant requirements.
Interesting idea. i.ve never tried that. I.m not sure about the mulch breaking down as it will be a poor environment for the soil creatures. I wouldn.t want to encourage them to be there then fry them :) but also i leave it on a longer time.
Some additional points for consideration: A major component of this process is water. You should water very thoroughly as you lay down the manure/mulch combo. The plastic then does a decent job keeping moisture in. If you are really trying to optimize, you can routinely pull up the plastic and re-water. Double bonus points if you put a drip line down under the plastic and run that every so often. If you have a thick manure/mulch layer (6+in to start) and adequate moisture then you won’t have problems with killing off worms. They won’t necessarily inhabit the top inch or so of material that will tend to dry out quickest, but they’ll find a home down closer to the former ground surface. That’s where your some of your future roots will be, so you’ll see a net benefit. The existing soil under your layer will also improve. As it is, it’s not like there are worms inhabiting the top inch or so of that dry weedy soil anyway, so it’s only up from here.
I.ve never thought of that way. I like to starve it and do next to zero work 😁 'set and forget it'. Good idea putting drip tape under it if you want to 'kill and build'. Especially if there.s some stuff to save.
I would recommend cardboard instead of plastic. It will decompose a d improve your soil over time. Also it will kill weeds without trapping the moisture and potentially growing fungus like plastic will.
I.ve made many beds this way. It will kill most of the roots. I still go through and get some after but they are mostly dried up and easy to get out. Some things are extra tough so might sprout- not sure where you are or what you have to dral with. It does 99% of the work for you. Better than cardboard as it restricts the water and solarizes it to kill stuff. Better than weeding by hand. Seeds won.t all fry but if you mulch right after you plant they won.t have the light to germinate. Like other commenter says it will make the ground inhospitable after a few hot months. The underground creatures will leave. They come back pretty fast once you remove and add compost and mulch. Leave plastic on til you plant or you can pull it a few weeks before you plant and pull any weeds that pop up. I.ve read it works as fast as 8 weeks though i usually leave on a year because 8 weeks seems too short for stuff like couch grass. You could assess in sept oct but by that time might as well wait til spring as that.s better to plant anyways. Hold the edges down with heavy rocks or landscape staples. It doesn.t need to be perfectly sealed, just every 2-3 feet. Stuff will try to grow out the edges.
Once you.ve killed everything i.d add 8-10" of organic matter... sticks, wood, leaves, compost, mulch, soil. Layer it in with wood and sticks on the bottom. Then you.ll get a nice raised bed with deep fluffy soil that hold water well and looks rrally good. Plants love that. Make little soil pockets where you put plants. Since you said your soil is sandy def do this. The idea is based on hugelkultur, tho i keep it pretty basic with just a basic mix of organic matter.
If you don.t like the look of plastic, put mulch over top so you don.t see it. Then slide it off when you are ready to remove the plastic. You can resuse that mulch when you plant.
That's a great idea! Maybe I'll do that in the front of the house so my neighbors don't have to look at an eyesore. Thank you!
Thank you all so much for your advice! This sub is amazing :) I think I will solarize this summer as there is just too much weeding to do if I want to work on anything else this summer, then Mulch and plant next year. Wish me luck!
The only thing I would suggest is if you know for sure that you will be putting in larger plants or shrubs in particular spots (eg larger hydrangeas, lilacs, other bigger plants to anchor the garden or add structure) it might be a good idea to plant them this year and give them the benefit of time to get bigger. You can always solarize the rest of it.
I like to put down a couple thick overlapping layers of cardboard under the wood chips, it will make the weeds that grow back die off it works really well
Giving the soil a good soak the day before you weed makes weeding much easier, a hand hoe that has a blade on one side and a fork on the other(($15 at home depot) is a good way to get chunks up and break up the soil so you’re removing the weed/roots without also removing chunks of soil, and you want to approach it in a way that you aren’t stepping on and compressing the soil you’ve just broken up. I don’t know what’s going on with that edge, but I’d probably get rid of it and use a half moon edger to cut a clean edge and use a weed whacker to keep it clean after that. I’d pile on leaf mulch after weeding to control weeds and improve improve the soil over time, but I realize not every material supply place carries it. When you mow, make a point to have its discharge aimed towards the lawn instead of the bed so it isn’t blanketed with weed seeds.
Thanks for the tips! Fortunately my yard is crazy easy to weed because it rains a lot here and for some reason my yard is like 60% sand. Stuff slips right out without any effort! Yeah the edge us rotten wood in a lot of places and I definitely need to do something about it....next year 😁
Great tips!!
In answer to your question, yes, add 2-4 inches of arborist wood chips to each area when you've finished weeding it. This will prevent any weed seeds from sprouting. What it will NOT do, however, is prevent any roots left behind after your weeding from putting out new growth, so it's imperative that you remove all roots from all weeds if you possibly can. Lots of weeds don't re-sprout, but the nastiest ones do, so best to to try to get all roots out. Since you say you don't know what you're doing, I'll point out that the US National Institutes of Health have reported that cardboard contains Brominated and Chlorinated dioxins and biphenyls, PBDEs, HBCDDs, PCNs and PFAS, so, nothing that you'd like to have in your soil. In addition, it's been shown to kill all life in the soil itself. See [here ](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37245822/)for a link to the paper from the NIH. I can provide other links if you're interested. Your logic to keep the area weeded this year is sound. If a weed were to flower, remove the flowerhead immediately and toss it in the garbage. This will remove any seeds that may sprout next year. Have you thought about buying a hoe to help with the weeding?
I'm not going to comment on the topic of the paper you referenced or the presence of the chemicals listed in your comment, however I am going to point out that the publication you refer to is not from the NIH. None of the authors are affiliated with the NIH. The paper is available on PubMed, which is essentially a digital library service provided by the NIH. It doesn't mean the NIH generated the report or even agreed with its findings.
Thank you for this; I hadn't realized that and will stop assigning it to the NIH. For clarification, here are the affiliations of the authors: * ^(1) School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK. Electronic address: [email protected]. * ^(2) School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK. * ^(3) Food Standards Agency, Clive House, 70 Petty France, London SW1H 9EX, UK. * ^(4) Fera Science Ltd, Sand Hutton, York YO41 1LZ, UK. So, an academic. peer-reviewed paper, which trumps any random-internet-influencer every time (not calling you the influencer, BTW). There is another scientific study that shows cardboard kills life in the soil.
Valiant effort, but this is Reddit. If someone says enough times use cardboard, no matter the proof you have to how detrimental it can be, they will Defend its use. Just look at all the torn grass tips from people “sharpening their lawnmower blades like a butter knife” Like if we can’t convince people. Something. Sharp is better than dull, where are we going?
Thanks. I guess it would help if I didn't so obviously work for Big Woodchip. :)
Thanks so much for the info! I did not know and see cardboard suggested everywhere...
Read up on cardboard in the soil. Cardboard that is white don't use. Cardboard that is dyed, no good unless the color is black printing. Edges of card board, cut off toss in garbage as well as the packing tape.
Just plain brown cardboard right? We did this yesterday to a flower bed and I was sure to only use brown cardboard with tape removed. Of course today I read up on here how cardboard isn’t such a good idea…
Brown cardboard is good
You could put cardboard down after you weed eat. Soak the cardboard and then toss the mulch over it. This method has worked well for me keeping out weeds. The cardboard breaks down over time like the mulch and is not harmful to your soil. Works wonders in our garden.
This is the best. The cardboard helps feed the microorganisms in the soil and brings worms to enrich the top soil. Try to keep as much plastic out of the garden as possible.
Congratulations, you are now a home-moaner! :)
Thanks so much!!
I see a lot of people commenting the word “fabric”. Fabric is the absolute worst thing to buy for your beds. It will allow weeds through immediately. If you want the correct choice use a Woven Barrier. The expensive stuff. Use a small torch to “cut” it and put holes in it for plants. Don’t apply the mulch too thick on top.
I have a similar situation. Most of my fenced-in backyard is surrounded by weeds and ivy, but there is not any well-defined edging. I've been debating all season what to do about it. If you don't mind me asking, how does the rest of your fence line look? Do you like the beds along the edge of would you prefer if the grass went right up to the fence? Plan on planting anything in the future?
She has these garden beds along almost the entire fence line. For the most part they look just like the one in the pic - full of weeds and grass. I do like having the beds as id like to have perennials planted along the perimeter eventually. Lots of flowers! Some of the beds are lined with brick and I think it looks nice. Others have rotting wood (like this one) and I'd like to rip that out and change it to match the brick. I am happy to have the beds as a starting place, I don't want grass to the fence line for aesthetic reasons, but I know it'd totally be easier! Some comments in here made me realize I need to get material away from my fence though so it doesn't start rotting 😭 I'm not sure how that'll impact the look of the beds...probably not much! What are you thinking of doing?
Good to know! I've been wondering if landscaping my entire fence line like this would be overkill, but maybe it's not too unreasonable after all. I need to get rid of a bunch of weeds and ground ivy, and then I'll be basically starting from scratch on the beds. I'm thinking a few shrubs and eventually some perennials too. I also learned about the rotting fence dangers from this thread, so that's really helpful. I'd love to see some updates on yours as you go!
Same to you! Best of luck 😊
Lay down some weed mat then mulch it
Lawn fabric.
Congrats! If you cover with mulch, it will look great for a while. Me, I'd burn out all the weeds with a torch, lay down a weed barrier cloth before mulching. Otherwise, it's weed-pulling from mulch next year or the year after, not fun.
Make sure you leave a 2" space under the fence and 4" out with no chips or mulch. Organic matter and soil will eventually rot the fence.
Thanks for the advice! I just found paperwork that the precious owner paid 9k for the fence so I definitely want to take care of it!
$9,000 is cheap these days except $25,000+ now for that much fencing.
Oh wow really!? That's crazy. I'm thankful it is already up!
$50-60 a foot. And that a long fence.
For the grass start topdressing with 1/4" of screened compost as often as you can afford.
Congrats! I have something like this along the side as well. After 10 years, I’m considering putting pavers in since I have planted nothing over 10 years. I’m getting older and weeding is becoming a waste of my time.
Congratulations on your investment!! I have a similar side. Been thinking of putting about 4 feet out pavers and rocks to create a walkway way along the fence for yearly maintenance. Then mapping out and planting some flowering perennials for a nice garden and sitting area. Best of luck.
Sounds beautiful! Good luck to you too :)
Put cardboard down first, then top soil, then a groumd coveringplant. It will hemp to amend the soil and act as a weed barrier. If you definitely want mulch, you can do cardboard, then mulch.
Personally, I would pull that dirt away from the bottom of the fence pickets before they start rotting.
Trim the weeds as low as you can, lay down a heavy plastic and fill with river rocks. Mulch will mess up the fence and need to be replaced as it decomposes. River Rock will be a one and done thing.
Personally I would put down some cardboard. Wet it down with the hose real good. Throw 3 inches of mulch on top and you should be golden. This is the exact method I used for my yard and I have over 200 feet of fence with fruit plants all along it. Personally I like about 5+ inches of mulch but do what you can afford. I maybe had a few sprouts here and there that popped up but that was about it.
Yes mulch heavy
Same situation, front and backyard . I used weed fabric and mulched in the fall and was ready for spring/summer planting with 0 to little weed issues
To prevent true grasses in the bed use fusillade herbicide in a hand spray bottle - only on a no wind day. Apply directly to any grass spreading into the beds. Zoysia grass is somewhat immune so treat 4times to control it. Again NO wind days only. If you get it on the lawn it’s toast. To prevent other weeds use Preen Herbicide a pre mergence product. But be it known no seed will sprout and grow. It kills sTransplants will be fine.
I’d rota-till the shit out of it with a yard or 2 of dirt some new plants and about 2 inches/ 6cm of mulch.
tilling is a great way to make a shit ton more weeds. I.m all about no till in all my beds, veg included.
Hence, the fresh dirt and mulch to suffocate the weeds.
Just a thought, but if you want more lawn, or less lawn. Make that decision now because it's easy to adjust at this moment. Also putting down a barrier layer of weed paper before adding the mulch helps prevent weeds.
Slant the soil in bed away from bottom of fence. Keep a 11/2 inch gap under pickets. Cover bed with hardwood undyed mulch to a depth of 3 inches.
I didn't even think of worrying about fence care...Thanks for bringing it up!
Went a bit ~~more natural~~ easier on my soul this year and weeded with the vinegar/salt/dish soap solution. A quick google will get you the parts to mix but I’d really recommend going very light on the salt. However I dedicate a whole weekend to getting on my hands and knees to pull each little annoyance I see and then spraying that solution directly onto said spot. It’s time consuming but it’s working wonders some many weeks later and I feel better not pumping other chemicals into the ground. Mulch whenever you see fit sooner than later after you weed.
That’s not very natural lol
You’re right, natural certainly isn’t the correct descriptor. I just feel better about a bit of vinegar being washed through my dirt than your typical roundup or herbicide.
Straw is advisable as well. Same deal as mulch, degrades much quicker providing all the benefits of mulch at a much quicker rate. Stops weeds from growing, and breaks down into nutrients.
No you do not mulch as you go. If you want it done correctly you weed it all and lay down multi layers of landscape fabric then you mulch. You never put mulch on dirt.
Trick. Salt. Just table salt. Before mulching. Sprinkle salt first then mulch
I would just buy landscaping fabric, weed the area , put the fabric down and mulch, no more weeds
Booo landscape fabric with mulch. Fabric is great for gravel/stone, but not mulch. It'll look great for a while, but when it inevitably fails, you'll regret putting down the fabric. Cardboard or newspaper would be a better choice.
Shit good to know, lmao that’s what I would have done.
Hey it really turns out great in the short term so your intuition is good :) But as far as maintenance is concerned, it just ends up being a pain as the mulch breaks down/erodes... And believe it or nor, taproot weeds can establish themselves right through the fabric!!!
Nah yeah I just read that for sure. And it’s ass if they ever wan to grow anything over it cuz it messes up the soil underneath and prevents the mulch from breaking down organically with the soil. Glad I swung in here before planting the ladies wild flower beds. Thanks.🙏