Hi, I have a perennial bed that I want to do over this year. I call it my daisy garden- I have Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm', some echinacea, a shasta (John Quillen?? Don't remember), a pyrethrum daisy that I think may have disappeared over the winter, and heliopsis. I have ordered some more daisy-type plants from Bluestone's half-price sale. Anyway, the bed gets full sun or close to it. The fill around our house, though, is really sandy. I dug out and amended this with soil and compost; things have done ok but not great. Goldsturm has colonized a bit, but the echinacea are not real happy. Because of the sandiness, it is perhaps a little too well-drained. My plan is to dig everything up and hold in pots as I expand the bed. I have a load of loam/compost mix coming, and will use that in there. I was thinking about putting some landscape fabric down in the hole, before putting in the soil. Any thoughts, pro/con?? All suggestions welcome! :-)
Remodeling a garden bed
I remember someone saying they would NEVER use landscape fabric. I think it was Jo Anne. A whole group of people said they would not use it as it was a pain to have to dig up. Then it was using newspapers so thick and cardboard as it could be cut and in time decompose. They would make the lagzana bed. Come on people chime in as I have never burried newspapers.
Also with the landscape fabric this year we had a "minor" flood/ponding issue in the driveway. We have lived here 5 years and one part of the driveway would not dry out. DH got the tractor out and dug and found the fabric. He ripped it out with the tractor and a big gush of water went.
I hate landscape fabric. I use the newpapers, put down a couple layers and then you dig a hole in it to plant.
Hi schickenlady, my cousin lives in Newport. Your driveway story makes it sound like the fabric would help in my situation, lol! I do feel like I need to have *something* between the 'good' soil and the fill.
To clarify a bit, this garden bed is along the side of a deck. Under the deck it's just sand, rocks, etc. I was thinking that I should, at the very least, have some kind of permeable to semi permeable barrier at the back of the bed; perhaps not all the way under it to where the lawn starts. I'm not planning to use the fabric on top, I prefer some kind of mulch for that. I'm talking about using the fabric down deep, underneath.
This message was edited May 29, 2009 11:33 AM