Bark

I had a customer who wanted the garden made tidy and under trees lay landscape material with bark on top. Two weeks after i had done the work he phoned me and said the bark was blowing away and he thought I was going to put a net over the bark. I said that was the nature of bark birds would look in the bark to see if there was anything in there and I never said I would put a net over it. It is just not done like that. So he said take the bark away and put gravel down. Then three days later he called and he and his partner had decided I had not put enough bark down . So I have been back and put more bark down. I think this will not make any difference and when it gets windy again it will be back where it started. What are the views of members.regardsColin

I like your opinion of landscape fabric as "an abomination"........ I always thought I was the only person to hate the stuff. Theres nothing worse than a gravelled or mulched area with bits of black plastic/fabric sticking up all over the place, particularly round the edges and where one strip overlaps another. About 25 years ago, gravelled over my mums front lawn with a good 6" depth of shingle with concrete edging stones.... no membrane or anything....... straight onto the grass which I'd herbicided. Never had any problems in all these years, hardly a weed appears and always looks neat and tidy.

Pro Gard said:

I would never ever use landscape fabric under bark, the stuff is an abomination and causes a hard pan of soil to form underneath whilst the bark that decomposes on top just grows weeds.

Better to spray off the ground then just lay 4" of bark on top of the soil, this way as the bark decomposes it can be taken into the soil by the worms and any weeds that germinate (few) can be very easily removed.

IMO the membrane is also the cause of the problem here, the bark will stay put farr better without it, what grade of bark have you used?

Replies

Geoff Norfolk September 5, 2010 at 4:52pm

unfortunately, a few bags of bark doesn't go far and a few cats/birds/squirrels digging around etc can easily expose the black membrane underneath which does look horrible. Can't say I've had a problem with wind blowing the stuff but you really need a good depth..... I'd say 4" minimum....... then you could alway put the hose on it which should help. What depth did you put down?
Colin Cross September 6, 2010 at 5:33pm

Geoff Norfolk said:
unfortunately, a few bags of bark doesn't go far and a few cats/birds/squirrels digging around etc can easily expose the black membrane underneath which does look horrible. Can't say I've had a problem with wind blowing the stuff but you really need a good depth..... I'd say 4" minimum....... then you could alway put the hose on it which should help. What depth did you put down?
Colin Cross September 6, 2010 at 5:35pm

First time more then 5 inches.
regards
Colin
Colin Cross September 6, 2010 at 5:38pm

Pro Gard said:
I would never ever use landscape fabric under bark, the stuff is an abomination and causes a hard pan of soil to form underneath whilst the bark that decomposes on top just grows weeds.

Better to spray off the ground then just lay 4" of bark on top of the soil, this way as the bark decomposes it can be taken into the soil by the worms and any weeds that germinate (few) can be very easily removed.

IMO the membrane is also the cause of the problem here, the bark will stay put farr better without it, what grade of bark have you used?
Colin Cross September 6, 2010 at 5:39pm

I used bags of bark from Wicks
Andrew Goss September 6, 2010 at 6:40pm

I always use mini bark as I find it stays put better - Homebase is pretty good quality and value
Geoff Norfolk September 6, 2010 at 6:59pm

I like your opinion of landscape fabric as "an abomination"........ I always thought I was the only person to hate the stuff. Theres nothing worse than a gravelled or mulched area with bits of black plastic/fabric sticking up all over the place, particularly round the edges and where one strip overlaps another. About 25 years ago, gravelled over my mums front lawn with a good 6" depth of shingle with concrete edging stones.... no membrane or anything....... straight onto the grass which I'd herbicided. Never had any problems in all these years, hardly a weed appears and always looks neat and tidy.

Pro Gard said:
I would never ever use landscape fabric under bark, the stuff is an abomination and causes a hard pan of soil to form underneath whilst the bark that decomposes on top just grows weeds.

Better to spray off the ground then just lay 4" of bark on top of the soil, this way as the bark decomposes it can be taken into the soil by the worms and any weeds that germinate (few) can be very easily removed.

IMO the membrane is also the cause of the problem here, the bark will stay put farr better without it, what grade of bark have you used?