mulch, new house

jbarne08 · Mon Mar 28, 2011 8:45 am

Hello,

I recently moved into this house, with a great amout of yard to work with, but the lady who lived here before had set up flower beds, but never really got around to planting it.

She placed a weed liner around her shrubs she put in the front yard then put black mulch, which I think is pine, on top of that.

My question: I want to plant perrenials and some annuals there, should I just take the liner out and leave the mulch or what?

bullthistle · Mon Mar 28, 2011 10:36 am

Unless you want to spend time weeding when you want to plant just cut a piece in the weed barrier however if you want the perennial to spread just cut out a bit then plant.

rainbowgardener · Mon Mar 28, 2011 10:45 am

BT is very knowledgeable and that will certainly work. Personally I hate the weed liner/ landscape fabric. It works very well the first season. After that the pores start loosening up or something and weeds grow through it. But then they are entangled in the fabric and can't be pulled. It becomes a mess. I always end up getting rid of it. If it were my place, I would rip out all the landscape fabric, move the mulch out of the way, plant everything, and then put the mulch back, perhaps with a layer of grass clippings under it to get better weed suppression.

jbarne08 · Mon Mar 28, 2011 11:53 am

rainbowgardener wrote:BT is very knowledgeable and that will certainly work. Personally I hate the weed liner/ landscape fabric. It works very well the first season. After that the pores start loosening up or something and weeds grow through it. But then they are entangled in the fabric and can't be pulled. It becomes a mess. I always end up getting rid of it. If it were my place, I would rip out all the landscape fabric, move the mulch out of the way, plant everything, and then put the mulch back, perhaps with a layer of grass clippings under it to get better weed suppression.

I did look what the bed looked like under the mulch, there was a lot of beefsteak plant/perilla just resting their root comformingly against the barrier. The weeds just go right through the barrier using it as a root support. Haha. Anyway, I'll do that and see how it goes.