How do I go about putting wood chip on my borders?

durham_girl

Hi Guys!

Just found this forum so I thought I'd ask all you knowledgeable gardeners a question!

I have just been (trying!) to sort out my front garden. It is quite big with a path in the middle and lawn on either side. Around both patches of lawn is a border with bits and pieces growing in it. I have decided that I don't want any plants in the border, but wood chips instead.

My question is......How do I go about doing this?! Should I dig the plants up first (Don't really want to - sounds like too much hard work!) or can I just cut them right down with the strimmer? I assume that I would then have to put down some sort of sheet so the weeds don't grow through, but what? A tarpaulin?

Also, does anybody know where I can get cheap wood chips from? I looked in B+Q, but they seem quite expensive.

Thanks!

Solomon_Broad

If you want just wood chip, getting rid of the plants first will be the best option. Then put down membrane, then woodchip. Wickes have "landscape fabric" and the chipped bark on offer right now. The bark is 3x 100L bags for £10

angie_loves_veg

durham_girl wrote: »

Hi Guys!

Also, does anybody know where I can get cheap wood chips from? I looked in B+Q, but they seem quite expensive.

Thanks!

If you contact an arborist (tree sugeon), they tend to chip what they cut down, and the chap I know has to pay to have the wood chips disposed of!!

If using them around plants, you should semi-compost them first I believe, but as you have no desire for plants, I don't see why you could not lay them straight on the membrane, without the composting process first. Bought wood chip is ready to use.

System

A notice in your garden FREE PLANTS, BRING A FORK, job done, get them to dig'em out themselves.

As for your wood chip/bark border, make sure you produce another notice for the local cats, saying DO YOUR BUSINESS HERE, no maybe not, they will soon find it as they love that.

durham_girl

islandman wrote: »

As for your wood chip/bark border, make sure you produce another notice for the local cats, saying DO YOUR BUSINESS HERE, no maybe not, they will soon find it as they love that.

Oh no! Never thought of that! I'll just have to invest in a slingshot.......











Any cat lovers, I'm kidding!!

FRUGAL_4

islandman wrote: »

A notice in your garden FREE PLANTS, BRING A FORK, job done, get them to dig'em out themselves.

As for your wood chip/bark border, make sure you produce another notice for the local cats, saying DO YOUR BUSINESS HERE, no maybe not, they will soon find it as they love that.

I agree, I put bark down in my back garden and the Bl**dy cats keep doing the toliet then they scatter the bark onto the lawn when they are hiding their evidence..it's a nuisance...

Jayar

Durham Girl, Why do you want plain boring wood chips? Is it because it is low maintenance?
Can you not go for some ground cover instead, something like Pachysandra Terminalus. It is very low growing a spreads like the very devil, It only had weeny little flowers, but it is green, and it will keep weeds at bay. And BTW my cat does not like it (neither do the snails)

durham_girl

Yep, its cos they are low maintenance! Both me and my husband work long hours and the last thing we want to do is gardening when we come in from work! What I was also planning was to get a few plant pots and put them in the corners or something! Boring I know, but better then a scruffy overgrown garden!

If anybody has any suggestions of what I could put down instead of wood chip, they would all be gratefully received!!

newbiemum05

if you want cheap woodchippings Lidl had them for about £1.99 a bag - same size as garden centre

Jayar

Ooooo There are lots of plants you could use as nice ground cover and any of them would be better than wood chips
Hebe pingufolia
Eyonymus Fontunii
Pachysandra terminalus
Alchemilla Mollis
Perriwinkle
Cotoneaster
to name but a very few

BlondeHeadOn

Cats do love woodchips as already mentioned, and the the other problem I found with them is that birds love 'em too - we used to end up with woodchips scattered everywhere after the birds have been in there, scratching and chucking them all over the place. The last term I would use for woodchips is 'low maintenenace'!

I agree with the ground cover plants idea - much nicer to look at and not such a magnet for cats and birds. Alternatively why not use some bigger pebbles/stones as ground cover, or maybe those coloured slates? The coloured slates tend to be ignored by cats (too sharp and too big for toilet-digging purposes), although the smaller ones may still be a blackbird playground. A few bigger stones with smaller ones and gravel in between might look quite nice and be cat/bird proof. They would be more expensive to start with but would only need laying once, unlike woodchips which would need topping up every so often.