[jashar99]

Hi, the garden I inheritated had woodchip on its beds with weedblock underneath, from its previous owner. Over the years, I have generally just raked it, added to it when necessary. However this year, and this past glorious week in particular, I have changed the design of the garden, removed and replanted a few trees and shrubs, changed shape of lawn and added alot of smaller shrubs to fill gaps. While doing this I removed loads of the bark and just bagged it. of course with time some soil has become mixed in. I also removed all teh weedblock. The remaning soil was reconditioned with compost and redug where possible. Now after finishing the planting, I am thinking of just adding wood chip and cocoa shells straight onto the soil. I would appreciate any advice, regards

[inishindie]

Hi jashar99

I am in the process of pulling up weedblock from paths too. It has been down three years and served me well. I only ever put one layer of wood chip on the surface and over time it has rotted down. Weeds have appeared (mainly feverfew seedlings!) and grasses.

The advantage of having the weedblock down is that deep rooted weeds such as dandelions and docks don't get a foothold and the wood bark doesn't get mixed in with the soil much. The weeds can be easily removed. My intention (not that I did it) was to either add more bark every year as you did, or to put the old bark into the beds around the plants as a mulch and start again with a new layer of bark. I am pleased I didn't do the latter as it is difficult to shovel the bark up without ripping the material, allowing weeds to take hold.

Would you have a photo of the area?

Cheers

Ian
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www.gardening.ie

[jashar99]

Thanks Ian, I will snap a few shops and post them up soon as I can

[jashar99]

Here are a few pics. Alot of the beds are still being sorted out as you can see, except for the back. The fruit bushes are thriving and potatoes are flying it in compost bags. The front is done and the lavender is just coming out. There is ALOT of box hedging in our garden, and I had laid weedblock in between, very tedious job. You can see the laurel hedge and silver birch trees are beginning to come on behind the back wall. I want to get the dirty garden work finished before painting the house and side/garden walls. Thanks for your advice


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[inishindie]

Great photos!

I love the idea of trains going past the garden (I nearly bought an old train station once, when you could buy them for pennies in the late eighties) The Laurel and silver birch trees are a very good idea too, thew will grow nicley together. Would you think of putting a mulch on that area? I find it is less tedious to put the weedblock down before planting and cutting holes on it for the plants. You can't do this though if the garden is inherited!

It doesn't look as though you would have much bother with the area near the compost bin as the beech and box are so close together, That would keep the weeds down, especially with a bit of mulching.

The box growing along the driveway look as though they will need a bit of care. Maybe a watering as it looks dry. They might have a hard time rubbing on the wall in the wind, mulching around those might help to keep the moisture in.

It's nice to see the strawberry flowers out already. Here in the North West they are still in hiding!

The areas you have look lovely and thankfully quite low maintenence. If it was my own garden I would be very tempted to put down the mulch without putting in any webbing. Laying weedlblock around established areas with plants in isn't always effective as you have to cut it a lot so the weeds will find the soil. I have been known to put down old newspapers under the wood bark, this can keep the perennial weed roots from taking hold for ages.

I don't suppose I am much help but I have really enjoyed looking at the photos!

Thanks

jashar99

Ian
_________________
www.gardening.ie

[jashar99]

Thanks Ian, its funny I was just reading the other day that wet newspaper forms a very effective natural weedblock, might be the way to go, thanks for advice, just tendned to the box along the driveway this week, so hopefully they will be looking better in a few weeks, regards and happy gardening
james

[GPI]

Weed prevention fabric is not alway vital, provided you give bit of time to your beds and borders each week. In this way you will be able to grub out the few weeds which manage to take root in the bark-only surface.

There is no weed prevention fabric in the picture below.



By the way jashar99, your laurel hedge and beech trees seem to be coming on well next to the rail track.
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Remember, a weed is just a plant in the wrong place.

Garden Consultation & Design in Ireland!

[jashar99]

Thanks GPI

[jashar99]

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i bought a bag of cocoa shells to try out, looks very nice. i think it gets darker with time, once it was wet down, it really hasnt moved or blown away. very happy with it. i think i'll extend it to all the garden beds