What is the best Ground cover for a 10m x 4m Patch of soil.

Gerb68

I have a piece of ground 10 x 4 meters that I want do something with in the near future. I turned and levelled the soil last summer and I would like to cover it with something to prevent weeds from growing in the coming months.

I currently have it covered with sheets of Tarpaulin (pierced with holes for drainage) but these took a bit of a beating over the winter and are now not fit for this purpose.

Is there a better material that is more suited for this purpose or is Tarpaulin my only option?

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Also as this a temporary solution I was hoping for something relatively low cost.

The Garden Shop

Hello Gerb

You should use a Heavy Duty Weed control fabric - This is similar to the polythene sheets but is designed to control weeds & allow water penetrate the soil

Ideally this Weed control fabric should be covered with a mulch. You can use bark chippings or gravel

For 40m2 you would need 3 or 4 bulk (ton) bags of bark

In terms of plants - I would recommend planting Hypericum calycinum as this is a fast growing ground cover plant and is evergreen

But as the plants grow you will need to cut away the weed fabric to allow the plants to develop new roots and to spread
This is the best way to avoid weed growth and after 3 or 4 years the bed will be covered with the ground cover plant

We recommend adding fertiliser at time of planting to ensure your plants get the best possible start

macraignil

If you just need to reduce the weed growth for a few months you could simply use a good thickness of organic mulch. You would be best to dig out any strong weeds growing there already. Over about six inches or 15cm of something like horse manure and bedding, wood chips or bark mulch will rott down over a few months and make your growing area full of nutrients for what you decide to plant. In my experience the organic material on its own can reduce weed growth for a few months without using any weed control fabric. If there are weeds growing on your patch they will likely find their way through to the surface if you don't kill them before spreading your mulch. You can save money on weed control fabric by doing some extra digging and if you know anyone with horses and are wiling to work with a fork this option might cost very lttle.

180Bhoy

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