[ballingall]

We have a segment of garden, fenced off from the end of the lawn which when we moved here was all neat and pretty, with weedproof membrane, and loads of bark chipping. Which was fine, there are a couple of trees in there, a hedge at the back, and a couple of biggish beds with perrennials in.

However, now, the bark chippings have decomposed a bit, and I now have loads of weeds growing on top of the weed membrane.

What should I do? should I rake off the big bits of bark, tip out the composted down bark that is nearly soil, and relay it?

Should I just take up the whole lot, and if I do, can I just lay fresh weed membrane on top of the old bark? Or what else can I do to dispose of the bark?

I'm tempted to consider replacing the bark with stones/gravel as it might be better. 

Help please!

Ps- won't be doing anything til I get the rest of the shows over and done with! So there's a few weeks before I will do anything.


Thanks
Beth

[doganjo]

I have exactly the same problem - mine is also on a fairly steep slope  so all the bark has drifted to the bottom almost onto the lawn - if you can call it that! I don't have the energy/strength to dig so I think I will have to get some paid labour to do it - for some reason my sons seem to be extremely busy at work just now

[HappyHippy]

Beth,
You could put more bark directly on top of the composted bark that would kill the weeds and pretty it up with the minimum of effort. You would need a depth of at least 3 inches all over, however the same problem would arise in a year or two.
As for pulling it all up - that would be my way to do it. But some of the weeds MIGHT be growing through the membrane, (which would make it a difficult task) then I would lay a membrane and cover it with stones (at least 3-4 inches)
Can I just say though on the weed membrane, they call them "weed SUPPRESSING membranes" because they don't always actually stop the weeds, the only way to be sure there's no weeds would be to lay plastic sheeting then cover with the stones, but if the plastic got burst you might find weeds coming through there.
I have the same problem in my rockery that I built last year, so have resigned myself to endless weeding untill my ground cover plants get established enough to keep the weeds at bay (hopefully!)
Good luck & let us know what you decide on !
Karen

[Unicorn]

I used bark - but the slugs love it cause they can go across it easily to eat your wares.

Best to use sharp stones - cuts the slugs bellies and keeps them away.

Problem is falling leaves, we have a lot of mature trees in the garden, and if you don't clear the fallen leaves in Autumn, they rot and grass grows in them (and weeds) by Summer - so you still have to weed, but not as often.

Ground cover plants are great if you can get ones that will not take all the moisture for the other planting that you wish to do.

[MiriMaran]

I have had a fair amount of experience of weed matting as I work as a gardener and personally I don't rate it!  Looks great to start off with, but needs to be folded so it is at least double, fixed with long pins and then have at least 4" of bark or stones on top.

Most of your weeds should pull out relatively easily as they'll be on top of the matting, but the ones that have grown through the matting need to be pulled carefully as the matting will easily rip.  So if I was you I would either start from scratch again,but as others have said stones will be a more permenant solution.  As a quick fix, you could pull the weeds and then add more bark on top of the old stuff, but it will be a continual problem!

Good Luck!  I'm helping at my children's school tomorrow making a veg patch for the school gardening club - they are having raised beds with weed matting and bark going around the beds!