Worth starting now?

"Someone who lives close by me has come up with a fabulous (imho) solution; they put tarp/plastic sheeting down and laid the gravel on top and hid the edges that showed beneath stuff, so everything is solved. that could be a solution?"


That is just as bad as membrane, leaves and detritus soon collect, they cant go anywere as the membrane/ plastic prevents this thus weeds colonise. I rip up loads of membrane and or plastic sheeting each year.

Using a hardcore base followed by gravel, any detritus build up filters down and gets compacted into the hardcore/sub base, being compacted it is farr harder for weeds to take root. Roman roads were based on the above principle.

 

Using tarp/plastic sheeting, is even worse than using weed fibre. Plastic sheeting does not allow air or water through to the soil, thus causing it to stagnate.

 

Hi folks. Just to clarify, are we saying that membrane is of no use whatsoever ?

 

In general yes.

 

But, I have a big roll of it !

 

Ebay or use it to line the sides of sleaper raised beds

 

for the sake of argument though if you're putting down gravel why does it matter what happens to the soil beneath? especially if it's going to be drowned with strong weedkiller year in year out. for example: uncovering the soil which has laid beneath gravel for so long and has been fully loaded with weedkiller for so long is going to be as dead as stagnant earth which has been under plastic/ tarp/ membrane is it not? It's for this belief I'm enriching the soil before I add any grass seed, even though weeds grew through the gravel in my garden. I hope that makes sense.
also adding hardcore as well as a gravel base is a fantastic benefit for a gravelled driveway I'd agree simply due to the weight of vehicles a driveway has to bear, but for a garden area? is it strictly necessary? but then again I may be spoiled as I've got hard clay soil here

 

I wish I knew about the membranes before we put our slate paths in :dh:. The weeds appear quite soon after its all laid so I have to still weed it :(. Might dig it up later on and do it properly