Can I do this to my lawn please?

mrs_baggins

hi all, have decided to get rid of the tiny bit of grass at front as its a pain to get mower there. What I am doing instead is to put weed membrane stuff down and a couple of circles of stone with slate chips in betweeen.

Now my question is this- as I am inherently lazy and lacking in time do I REALLY have to dig up the turf first to do this? My idea was to put lethal weed killer down, membrane then slate stuff on top but people have said I shouldnt do this but I dont know why? Its hardly going to be walked on that much and surely if I kill first with the membrane and slate on top it will not poke through for ages? or is it due to some other reason I have not thought about?

YoungBean

Hi Mrs Baggins,

My mum and dad had a tree in their garden they wanted to make a feature out of. So they went about a metre from the tree and made a mini stone wall. In this, they then put down their membrane, then put their slate on top of that.

It has now been 3 years and not one weed has appeared on that patch, and they didnt do ANY preparation with weed killer or anything like that, they just pulled the bigger ones out the ground.

My only thought is that most plants need water and sunlight (correct me if I am wrong, I am only a novice! ) so with you putting a membrane over the top, you are stopping one of those things from happening, so should prevent them from re-growing.

Does that make any sense? I have the tendancy to ramble on!

HTH

Sooz x

Ives

Plant membranes are porous and let water through, but keep light out (don't use plastic as this obviously isn't). The black plant membranes I have used in the past have killed what's underneath without digging, with the exception of dandelions and ladys mantle which creep out of any joins. So if these are in your grass sward, it might be a good idea to put a layer of cardboard underneath the membrane, which will rot down slowly, killing any persistant growth. Its best to always avoid chemicals as these destroy the soil life. Best of luck.

mrs_baggins

sorted then!!! I am NOt going to dig up all the turf first. Will let you all know if anything bad happens!!