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Planting in an area with chippings

#1 · 2nd July 2023, 9:07 am

Good morning all.

I'm new to the group, in fact I am really new to gardening. We moved into our house just over a year ago and now I want to tackle the back garden. Thankfully the previous owners did a lot of the hard work and left it as sort of a blank canvas.

There is an area in back garden which is covered in slate rock chippings. After I have renewed the fencing, I want to add perennial plants and grasses to the area. My question is, do I need to remove all the slate and underlay to plant, or can I remove the chippings the areas I want to put the plants and just cut into the underlay underneath?

I've attached a photo.

I hope that makes sense.

Thank you.

#2 · 2nd July 2023, 9:30 am

Hi @rich-jord

Could you please reattach the images please they don’t seem to have uploaded. Then we can advise!

All the best

Lee

#3 · 2nd July 2023, 9:47 am

Hi Lee.

The image file was too big, hopefully it has upload now.

Thanks

Uploaded files:

#4 · 4th July 2023, 6:56 am

Hi @rich-jord

Thanks for your question.

The quick answer is yes you can plant through the gravel and weed membrane but I'm going to caveat that with the below advice.

Weed membranes can be effective at keeping weeds at bay but more times than not they still get through and it introduces even more single-use plastic to the garden, The problem with cutting and planting through weed membranes is that ribbons of plastic come loose and then work there way around the garden or blow away in the wind. It can be a frustrating process.

Also when cutting through and then planting the plants have no extra space to grow so you need to make sure you cut 3x the size of the plant out in the membrane for this process.

Weed membrane makes the soil sweat and can be a breeding ground for slugs which live in the gaps underneath. It's really bad for soil health so you may find plants struggle and the natural cycle of water, air and decomposition of organic matter is hindered by the membrane.

In all honesty, based on my experience of dealing with it I really dislike weed membranes. I would advise that although time-consuming, I'd lift large parts of the gravel. Remove the membrane entirely then plant and finally redistribute the gravel. You'll get a far better result and the plants have a much better chance of thriving. You're also doing your bit to stop our use of single use plastic from ruining gardens and green spaces.

Good luck in regreening your garden!

Rich Jord has reacted to this post.

#5 · 4th July 2023, 7:54 am

That's great advice. Thank you @lee

#6 · 31st October 2023, 10:20 pm

Really, in my own experience weed membranes can be effective at first, but they may not prevent all weeds and can lead to plastic waste concerns. Moreover, planting through the membrane can limit the space for your plants to grow and negatively impact soil health. work info