This article will look at the various options in terms of long term weed control. The two main methods are to lay down a weed fabric or polythene sheeting.
The first thing to look at it the type of sheets you should use. I will be looking at long term heavy duty use, you are able to get lighter versions of both types of products, Best weed shop in uk but I will be concentrating on a long term solution for perennials and leafy garden pests.
OK so when it comes to buying weed fabric it can be called a number of different names; geotextile, membrane, ground cover and mulch fabric so if I mention these names do not get confused, they are all the same thing. Weed fabrics come can be manufactured in a couple of ways, they come in spun-bonded and woven (both produced from polyethylene). For long time use you will need the woven style (at least 100gsm), for light use you will only require the spun-bonded (at least 50gsm). The GSM is the grams per square metre; this number applies to both woven & spun-bonded material and is a good indicator as to the quality of the fabric, the higher the better. In this article I am focusing on the woven 100gsm in regards to mulch fabric. The polythene I am referring to in this article is the black 250mu style.
Garden ground cover and polythene are used by professionals and also amateurs; there are differences between the two. Heavy duty polythene is often thicker and is a continuous sheet without any perforations. Geotextile is a woven fabric that has a very tight weave, leaving minute holes in it; the use for these holes will be explained later. In terms of price per square metre they are fairly similar; if anything the polythene is slightly more expensive, this becomes more apparent the larger the area you need to cover.
Both products are most common in black; you can find green fabric and also other colours of polythene. When using these sheets you want to block out as much light as possible; you do not want the perennials underneath to photosynthesise. Once they are laid down then over time the weeds will die and degrade. You can lay turf, gravel and mulching products over both plastic and geotextile at any stage of the process; it will continue to work underneath.
Both plastic and geotextile are available in sheeting and roll form; this depends on the manufacturer and the preference of the shop selling it. In terms of pegging them down there are dedicated weed anchor pegs that can be purchased, although they work with both, they are really designed for use with the mulch fabric. For harder ground you should upgrade to steel pegs as they Best weed shop in uk are a lot stronger than the standard plastic style.
And so to the pros and cons. In terms of both of the styles of prevention they are both effective and long lasting as long as they are laid properly; they both get a tick in the box for that (polythene being thicker can sometimes last a bit longer). They are both suitable for heavy duty applications and are easily installed.