I have a neighbor that has planted bushes on a very steep incline between her house and neighbor's. We keep killing the weeds that grow and keep coming back so we thought about mulch. On this steep incline if we use pine straw or bark nuggets will they fall down? Someone at my office had seen a show about usng a burlap, such like lanscape fabric but i've checked the larger nurseries. Love to see if anyone can help before we go out and buy either. Also we keep using Roundup but it only kills those weeds for a few months and they grow back.. Thanks

 

readinglori,
If you could even find it, burlap will still let the weeds grow up through it. And it would rot away in a little over a year.
The pine straw might work, wheras the nuggets may wash down.

Have you thought about a ground cover planting of ivy, pachysandra or some other plant which may choke out most of the weeds?

fred

 

You can find burlap in any fabric store, but this will still allow the weeds to come through. I would suggest a weed barrier that can be purchased at any store that sells garden supplies. It comes in rolls of so many feet and you place it down on the ground that you don't want weeds. I have had it in my garden for 12 years and it has not broken down at all. You could also you something called PREEN, I have used this in my vegatable garden and it works great! You just sprinkle it around the plants and on the soil where you don't want weeds, that's it! It won't kill weeds that you already have but it will stop any new weeds from showing up. The only downfall with this product is that it has to be repeated, directions are right on the package.
Good Luck

 

Thanks, we planted 2 different types of junipers,tall growing along top and blue rug along incline, but as you know they take time in filling in the area/22ft l x 8 ft w, some parts are even
13ft w . finally saw some(burlap) at hme dept today but as ya'll said it was good to start things. Last summer i bought 2 rolls of the black lanscape fabric put it down w the green stakes but a good georgia storm went thru blew it up the street on a neighbor's truck one night and we've been leery since(ha ha).

 

readinglori,

Hey, here's another possibility.
Put down a thin layer of shredde bark mulch, cover wth some type
of nylon netting. (I've seen this used along highways and at golf courses.) After the netting is secured down, cover with some more mulch. This should hold up against most weather conditions.

fred

 

Landscape fabric would be the best bet. As everyone else has already stated, burlap will allow weeds through and break down over a short period of time. Anything plastic won't let water through and could cause more problems with runoff. Landscape fabric is rather expensive. I paid $27.00 at Home Depot for 200 sq. ft., but I used mine behind a stone wall to stop the earth from washing through. It does allow water to penetrate. The problem I see with using this on a steep incline is that it will need to be covered with some type of mulch which will still allow weeds to grow in the mulch and the mulch could still possibly wash away in the rain.

I don't like using chemicals as I am chemical sensitive and they get into the environment and there is so much controversy about them. 'Nuf said. :-)

I would suggest a groundcover that is more permanent. Something evergreen for year round interest that will hold the soil and not allow many weeds to become established. I don't know what your sun conditions are, but with a little research you could find an appropriate one. I don't recommend ivy, vinca or pachysandra (unless you get the native one) as they escape into the wild and cause lots of problems.

Here's what I recommend for sun. Many of these can be found at this site.

http://www.tripplebrookfarm.com/index.html

cotoneaster - many varieties so look for an evergreen one (roots along the stems)
Chrysogonum virginicum - green and gold - native and can take sun or shade (don't let leaves cover it in winter as it will rot)
Waldsteinia - barren strawberry
Creeping thymes - many varieties here, try this site for both sun and shade goodies.

www.stepables.com





For part shade and/or shade you might want to try

Wintergreen - hardy to zone 7 (you may be in 8)
Mitchella - partridge berry
http://www.tripplebrookfarm.com/index.html


Ajuga - many varieties but can be invasive at it's edges with lawns
Various stoloniferous hardy geraniums - here's a site that shows those that will make groundcovers. Also look at the top heading when you get here as they also recommend a couple of others for sun in 2 other catagories.
http://www.geraniaceae.com/geraniums_ground.html

You might even want to do a mix of groundcovers for interest if the site is large enough. Don't forget that you can plant bulbs that will grow through many of these groundcovers for added spring color.

You can also search plants at www.google.com Try using the Latin name if you have it and put it in quotes like this "Chrysogonum virginicum". If you want to only see pictures of the plants you can click on 'Images' as well.

Hope this helped.
Newt