Using carpet to kill weeds...

BigMummaF

I've seen it mentioned before & now we are lucky enough to have a room sized carpet, I realise I know little of what I should do next

1. It is a foam backed carpet. Does it make any difference which way we put the pile? Pup is enjoying laying on the fluffy side at the mo, so it's not an issue unless the process works better with the backing uppermost.
2. How long does the carpet need to stay in place, to work its magic? There are lots of dandelions & leaves like creased spinach? Don't ask me names as I can just fathom the difference between daisy & daffodil..We had taken off the top layer of grass & laid that black stuff that's supposed to stop weeds, but hadn't been told there's a particular way to lay that! There's about 15mm gravel on top of that & the stuff keeps coming thru :mad:


I'm presuming it will still mean maintenance to keep the blighters at bay, but I am overwhelmed & could do with an initial blitz to be able to start again. I'm thinking once cleared, I'd like to put down some turf & some slabs with containers for things like salad leaves.
Thanks for reading.

Zazen999

When you said you'd heard of it - did you go out any buy some carpet?

It's actually not recommended at all! The foam and other plastics inside are bad for the soil and the weeds will grow straight through it.

What are you actually trying to do?

Lotus-eater

If you can get some of the very old expensive 100% wool carpets, I'm sure they would be ok, but as zazen says all the man made materials and fire retardants nowadays are pretty nasty. And if you leave them on too long, they get stuck to the floor. Most (alot of) allotments have banned them.

If you want to lay weed suppressant fabric, you MUST clear the weeds out first, then lay it and cover with something like gravel, or bark.

If you want to kill the weeds, you need black plastic.

BigMummaF

That sounds about right for my luck Zazen
I'm 99% certain I've read that by covering an allotment or such with carpet, it killed off the weeds. Our back garden is covered with dandelion & such from when we took the top layer off & tried to lay the black sheeting that is supposed to suppress weed.

At the time, we put a layer of grit over the sheeting & left a little border around the fence as I want to keep the bluebells that come up every year.

I am loathe to pay out for the stuff that is supposed to kill down to the root as any attempts thus far have been almost as useless as the sheeting..plus we now have Pup to think about too. I always manage to put the stuff on while it's gloriously dry, but guarantee the heavens will empty within 30mins

We really need something that will give us a good start on getting rid of the damned things & if chemicals are the only real answer, then that's what I shall do. Any & all advice is gratefully accepted.

ETA: I think I would like to lift the gravel & put down a few turf & paving slabs, so it's not all lawn if that makes sense. Presumably the chemicals in the carpet would stop the turf from taking root too?

Zazen999

BigMummaF wrote: »

That sounds about right for my luck Zazen
I'm 99% certain I've read that by covering an allotment or such with carpet, it killed off the weeds.

Oh yes, you have probably read that. But as Lotus Eater says, that is a hangover from before foam backed man made carpets and is really not good for the soil.

What ARE you trying to actually do? There will be different solutions depending on what you are trying to do to each area. Your explanations are a little vague.

BigMummaF

Apologies--I AM trying to explain, but gardening & I do not make comfortable companions

The back garden used to be grassed but was very uneven so we took off the top layer, laid the black plastic sheeting stuff & put down a layer of grit to about 15mm deep.
We must have put the plastic down wrong--bought at the price & labelled as, weed prevention :mad:--because the weeds grow so thick & fast it is like a forest walkway out there.

I want to know if there's something I can do to kill off those weeds without using chemicals preferably, as we have Pup to consider.

I hope that is a bit better an explanation, as I don't know how else to describe it

katholicos

Hi BMF,

I have used cheap weed control fabric and more expensive weed control fabric, and in my experience i really did get what i paid for. The poundhsop weed control fabric was wispy and tore very easily, the B & Q fabric, which was about £7 a roll was very thick and substantial and more than did the job. It may be that it is best to just remove the gravel, remove as many weeds as you can, then put some decent weed control fabric down and cover with grit. Make sure you secure the edges of the weed fabric though because weeds will come up theough any small gaps where your rolls of fabric meet/join, if you are not careful. Alternatively, if you have any empty compost bags or sheets of black plastic, use this instead of the weed control fabric.

seraphina

I cut open my old compost bags and then weight them down with old slate tiles. Takes about 3-4 weeks before I remove it.

BigMummaF

That's the annoying part Kath; the weed stuff was quite a price from a 'reputable' garden centre :mad: We're wondering if it should have been laid a specific way, maybe the pattern is deeper on one side or something....

Zazen999

Ok - that's a good explanation - but are you trying to
get the grass back to a lawn
make a patio area
make an area with gravel over it?

what's I suggest doing, is finding out what weeds you do have...for example dandelions will need to be dug out but daisies can be hoed off and left to dry out, and added to the compost or brown bin.

If you want a lawn area, you will have to dig out the roots of perennial weeds, and possibly regrass seed bad patches.

If you want a patio, then you would have to dig out the soil anyway and lay weed fabric, with sand and/gravel, and then a base sand layer and put your slabs on that.

If you want an area with gravel, then you might have to get the perennial weeds out, cover with [for example] card and then a good weed fabric, and then put boundaries in and then put the gravel on top.

Unfortunately, nothing comes cheap so you really need to decide what you are trying to do and then attack each area separately.

If you use carpet, you could poison your soil forever, and get it so ingrained in the soil that it will be impossible to move. Much better to work out what your problem is and tackle that rather than a blanket cover up.

A good hoe works wonders if you are prepared to keep at it.

BigMummaF

I see what you mean now Zazen..like I said, me & gardening is like chalk & cheese, but much, much harder

I had thought I could kill the weeds off, lay some turf & some paving & that would be it. Seems not then, without a LOT of physical labour. Hmmm..back to the drawing board then.

Thanks for your help folks.