Weed fabric should only be used under pahways and patios. Your gardener is absolutely correct. Whenever you disturb soil for instance by planting plants, you being up buried weed seeds and they germinate now that they are exposed to light. Applying a pre-emergent granule herbicide can help minimize the germination of weed seeds but it is perfectly normal to have to weed after installing a new landscape. The trick is that you have to get rid of the weeds before they set seed or you have wasted all the effort of weeding.

This is one reason I don't like rock used for this purpose. With mulch, I can still use a scuffle hoe. With rock, I could not. What I want to know is how the weed seeds are getting water. Can you water the succulents more carefully? What is your irrigation method?

Thanks! I realized my last picture wasn't working - http://imgur.com/UHYYtgh

I have sprinklers that water the garden as a whole, so watering more carefully may not be an option. Would more rock be a solution?

Nil13 - Does this mean manually removing weeds for the first few months? What's to stop new ones from continuing to populate and grow later on?

Let us consider the ways in which weeds (or unwanted plants, if you prefer) appear. Seeds (or bits of plant that root) are:

1 dropped by nearby plants

2 blow in on the wind

3 are deposited by animals or birds.

4 were in the soil of potted plants that were added to the area

5 invade a space via a running root system

6 were waiting in the soil prior to any new work being done.

Let us also consider how those seeds or plant bits may then grow into unwanted plants:

a --irrigation applied

b --it rains

c --seeds or bits are exposed to a condition where germination is possible, via digging up an area or disturbing the soil in some other way, bring a seed or root to a level soil ideal for growth

d -- change of season (i.e, the arrival of spring).

Mulch, stone or otherwise, can slow or prevent the growth of weeds by preventing seed contact with the soil, drying the seeds out before they can sprout. This covers 1. , 2., 3., and sometimes also 6., if the seeds need light to sprout. It doesn't cover 4. or 5, but those are special cases.

As to a, b, c, and d, you can control a, and be careful with c. You can't really control b or d. So weeds happen.

So (after all that), yes, you have to pull weeds for a while. If you do it consistently and renew the mulch when it thins out (to avoid losing the protection it provides) over time the number of weeds will to a great extent become very small.

This is assuming the area is not near any very aggressive reseeder, such as Washingtonia palms, which will defeat mulch, stone, lack of water, and more.

What was the reasoning behind use of stone mulch? Long term it ends up getting mixed into the soil. Dogs and kids run through it and it gets thrown in the lawn and gets stuck in the lawn mower blades.

Whenever you plant a new bed, you are going to be weeding for at least a season. But really, weeding never stops it just slows down to a manageable level.

I usually limit weeds on new plantings with preemergent and 6" of shredded wood mulch. Rock mulch is a maintenance nightmare.

Graham- I cannot view your photo. It comes up blank for me.

We removed dwarf mondo ground cover from around an old black pine,and replaced it with river rocks. The area must get sprinkler water because of the root spread of the old pine. We use pre-mixed Round-up in a pump/hose bottle directed carefully in little squirts at the weeds that pop up between the river rock. Elsewhere we have 3" deep gravel and it works there too.

Hoovb- What lawn?????????????? ;-)

-Babka

there was a lawn in the photo that came up blank for you.

Thanks Hoovb. Now I can see it from the link in the other post.

Those rocks are nowhere near thick enough to discourage weeds, and you really do need an edge of some sort to separate the rocks from the grass. Also, I question using black rocks because of the heat factor, but it would be a good idea to pull them away a few inches from the base of each plant at least so you can check to see if the plant is getting adequate water.

Methinks the "gardener" messed up and he should be blessed with the upkeep of what he has created.

-Babka