Black plastic sheets and gravel

[tenplay]

I have two rather large sections (about 550 square feet) on the sides of my house for trash cans/walkway and a boat/RV. Instead of constantly weeding them, I plan on laying black sheets of plastic and then spreading 3" of 3/4' gravel. Do I need to secure the plastic sheets or will the gravel keep it in place? If I should secure the plastic, do I use regular large head nails? The pins sold in hardware stores for laying Weedguard is a little expensive. Thanks for any suggestions.

[rainbowgardener]

You do need to secure the plastic or you will end up with a big mess. Even large head nails would be likely to tear loose after awhile. I would bite the bullet and get the garden staples, it is a one time expense. They should cost you about 6 bucks for 20. If you can afford the plastic, you can afford the staples.

If you have to have an alternative, you could use bricks or big rocks around the edge. Push them in so they are partly buried, with the landscape fabric UNDER the buried part.

[applestar]

I'm not sure what you mean by black plastic sheets. If they are non-porous, they could hold water and create breeding grounds for mosquitoes. In either case, slugs and snails will love you.

...not to be negative or anything...

[Bobberman]

I guess this will be perminant. What I would do is spray the weeded area wih round up then put a gravel that has a filller or powder in it and the powder would seal the area and make the gravel smoother and no weeds will grow or not many! The black plastic under the gravel may have weeds growing in time through the gravel since it will hold the water. The land scape material that is porus is better! A heavy rain with plastic will flood and washaway the gravel in areas !

[tomf]

Using black plastic would make the gravel want to slide around, it would not let water drain and this would be a problem. You could go with pavers or put the gravel on thick enough to keep the weeds down. Even with the plastic you will get some weeds in the grave it self.

[rainbowgardener]

Or just use landscape fabric instead of plastic. Landscape fabric has little pores that let the water through.

[tke488]

Yea, Id def go with the weed barrier over using plastic. Your just asking for problems. Use the landscape staples with that and you can put what ever you want on top and have a nice solid area.