Replace weed fabric covered with stones.

chris_ie

We have a banking out the back of the house. It’s covered with stones on top of weed fabric. Not sure what type as it was there when we bought the house, but it’s pretty poor. Weeds always got up through it, holes/not joined properly, but we managed to control it until more recently. It’s got away on us! I’m thinking about trying to replace the fabric. I realize this involves quite a bit of work moving the stones but could be done bit by bit possibly.

I’m wondering is there someone who would do this sort of thing and do a good job? Gardener? Property maintenance? Me?

The banking is roughy 37m x 10m. No idea how much the labor would cost. Could work out the rough cost of the fabric. On that note, any recommendations for a good fabric?

looksee

That much Mypex would cost you (up to) approx €400 depending where you buy it. There is cheaper stuff but its not worth it for that size of a job. How much labour depends on the job. It must be quite a shallow slope to hold stones on top of membrane. What is the soil like under it? Is membrane and stones the only option?

Could you post a photo of the area?

Its not a complicated job, just labour intensive and fussy. You will need to move the stones, at which stage you will realise they are pretty dirty and will look messy on top of the membrane, also the soil they hold will grow weeds (over the membrane). Riddling/washing stones is hard work! I imagine a landscaper would insist you dump the existing stones and get new. The ground will need to levelled off and the new membrane laid and pegged down (you can buy metal staples or plastic pegs for the purpose, they are relatively expensive considering how many you will need). Then the stones replaced.

If there is any soil under the membrane I would be tempted to remove stones and membrane and put in a lot of ground cover shrubs.

That calculation assumes 2m Mypex at €100 for a 50m roll, four rolls.

chris_ie

Part of the banking is shallow part is steep! Would be quite a bit of work yeah

looksee

What kind of end result do you want? Do you want garden or just to look tidy? How much attention are you willing to give it? Which way does the slope face? If the view in the photos is to the south then keep any hedging low.

Its really surprising that the stones have stayed on the slope as much as they have. If it were my garden I think I would remove the stones and the membrane, you might be able to re-use the stones elsewhere in the garden. Put some sort of field hedging between you and the field, which would make it look tidier as you are never going to be able to improve the edge of the field. Allow most of the area to grow grass or whatever is willing to grow, once mowed it will be green and tidy, then in the steep corner plant ground cover shrubs such as cotoneaster dammeri, prostrate juniper, periwinkle, euonymus, rosa rugosa (very vigorous, very prickly, suitable for a bank, deciduous but some are a bit semi-evergreen).

chris_ie

Yeah the stones stay in place ok, if you walk up thw steep part though, it does displace them quite a bit!

The stones look nice when all the weeds are not there and we planned on maybe a bit of decking on the shallow part at some point. We also have a bit of drainage to sort along the fence too. Ideally it would be stones with little maintenance required as we have a garden out the front that is enough :D

looksee

You can get some mesh type stuff (like hexagonal or square cells) that will hold stones on a slope. Sounds like the original plan is the way to go so.

standardg60

Regular applications of glyphosate is really the only option here. Even with a new membrane it's still going have lots of weeds/grass germinating from the surrounding vegetation.

macvin

As above. Spray with roundup 3/4 times a year and weeds will stay in control.

A 5L container of roundup is about €90-€100 in an agri store such as Liffey mills or Quinn's and will last you 3-4 years for that.

chris_ie

Been using weedol rootkill on it. Although not often enough. Is round up much better?

standardg60

Not necessarily as both contain glyphosate, it's the not often enough that's the main problem. Are you using a watering can? Much better to use a sprayer.

phormium

Old carpet is the best to stop weeds, you still get some germinating in the gravel but the roots have a hard time getting down through the carpet unlike the membranes, easy to pull from the gravel. I normally put it face down but on a slope depending on the type of carpet right side up may work better as more grip for the gravel unless it's some god awful colour! I was lucky and got some beige stuff from someone dumping it and used it on a sloping bed. No bother get old carpet if you ask on local buy/sell pages, saves people trying to get rid of it, saves it being disposed of elsewhere too!