landscape fabric underneath gravel?
Dave_WA
19 years ago
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jimster
19 years agoRelated Discussions
Remove the gravel driveway or cover it with fabric and sow grass?
Comments (7)Thanks for the collective insight. A few more details: The driveway is currently about four inches lower than the rest of the basically flat lawn. I would be raising the grade, but not creating a mound compared to the rest of the yard. Additionally, plants have NO PROBLEM growing in the gravel as is, and 4 inches of topsoil is the least I would want for a lawn, but the gravel is very porous, and is currently supporting a wide variety of lawn grasses, weeds, trees, etc... It isn't as though I'm planting over concrete, for what that's worth. The real issue with the cost is disposal. Renting and operating a bobcat is no problem, but the question becomes how to dispose of the dirt and gravel. The rest of the driveway will only absorb so much of it. I called waste management (the company, not the municipal department) and they could barely figure out who to point me towards because it isn't "recyclable" material (like driveway asphalt), and could be "contaminated" with what I'm not sure because it hasn't had a car parked on it in several years. Is broken up dirt/gravel/aggregate something that would be considered "clean fill" and someone would cart away for free from an ad on Craigslist?...See MoreI am looking for landscape ideas for underneath our apricot tree
Comments (11)Root competition has nothing to do with how well a tree might fruit :-) All manner of trees will produce fruit in the wild - not that it is necessarily fruit that we eat - with all kinds of root competition. And as floral noted, a great many small space gardeners do indeed grow fruit trees very successfully and productively in with small shrubs, perennials and groundcovers. Concrete or gravel would be at the bottom of my list. But just a mulch or lawn or groundcover is perfectly acceptable. Or get creative and underplant with whatever you like.....it won't make one whit of difference to the tree!!...See MorePut landscape fabric underneath leaf mold pile?
Comments (18)I can't speak for others, in my yard, the maples are an aggressive weed and their roots very vigorous. I don't notice from other trees anywhere near as much. Notably these maples can grow new trees by sending out shoots, so I have to actively keep pulling the new ones out. (Tough little ones, too) Not surprising to me that a lot of trees want their roots in the leaf pile, they think it's the forest floor. I can't say my leaf approach is special: I try to shred leaves especially maple as they mat and break down slowly otherwise (but if the leaves are too wet I don't shred). I vary my approach a bit from time to time but mostly it's pile them up and forget about it. I get piles of maybe two cubic yards - but classic pile without a bin so wider at top, thinner at bottom. Sometimes I turn them actively (but not often), sometimes just leave them alone. Sometimes less of a tall pile and just hedge-like near a fence or wherever there's some room. (Perhaps worth noting I leave some loose leaves on lawn or elsewhere, I'm not looking for a golf course lawn, those break down in place) The piles are usually almost completely broken down by the next fall or the following spring; probably would be more perfect the fall after (i.e. two years after piling up). If I want to use them before that and want it more fine, I run over them with a lawnmower. I don't mean any of this as "how you should do it", just works for me, particularly from the not work too hard at this angle....See MorePutting pea gravel in backyard without landscaping fabric??
Comments (10)We'd need more details of what you want to achieve and where it is in relation to fences etc to say how advisable or inadvisable pea gravel is. When our kid was little, she loved playing in pea gravel more than anything (she's now a geologist). So we had a huge multi-ton load dumped in the back yard. It was contained by boards, ended up about six inches deep. As the years went by, we'd shovel some out to use in other projects. As the pea gravel layer thinned, grass and weeds moved in. A couple times per year, I'd rake gravel and pull weeds -- not pleasant work, but kept it okay for a play yard if you weren't too fussy. Long term, the plan was to either hire a bobcat to doze it all out and replace with clean dirt for a garden, or buy large pavers to suppress the weeds and turn it into a patio. But we moved and I don't know what the new owners have done. Bottom line -- getting rid of pea gravel is not easy. Think about how much work you are willing or able to hire out and how much machinery would be involved....See MoreRatherbgardening
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