Random Musings > Grow Your Own

Underground weed barrier

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Mrs Pingu:
My neighbours (at least 3 of them) have ground elder, so our course, so do we. One of them is at least trying by laying down tarp up to our fence, but at the edge it's just growing underneath and popping up on our side. The other 2 neighbours don't seem to be doing anything about it.
I'd like to try to get this under control before it gets too bad but I don't want to use weedkiller and if it's not under control their side I'm wasting my time.

So what I'm proposing, because it has relatively shallow roots, is to dig (ha) a slit all the way along the boundary and insert a physical barrier in the soil.

Question, will heavy duty landscape fabric which is water permeable, like this  be sufficient?
https://www.toolstation.com/heavy-duty-landscape-fabric/p45800

Or should I go for something impermeable like heavy duty pvc sheet?

Ham:
I doubt that landscape fabric will work for long, if at all, as weeds can grow in it/through it quite happily. It's designed to work by cutting out light. The stuff that you use for bamboo is probably best but a bit spendy, there may be alternatives (plastic lawn edging?)

rafletcher:
We garden organically, but…..  neighbourly bindweed, vinka and ground elder are all candidates for Roundup.

Flite:
That material (Mypex) is designed to separate gravel, slabs etc from the underlying soil, so they don't just sink in.  It is a woven fabric, so there are gaps between the threads which allow perennial weeds to come through easily. It's claims to be a weed suppressant are over-stated. And unless it is well covered, it shreds.

A non-woven fabric like plantex is better as a weed suppressant. We use it double thickness and covered by gravel for paths. Last time we wanted to get plantex, it was difficult to source. I think we had to order it from Europe. I'm not convinced it will work well as a vertical barrier which I think is what you are considering?

I don't like using herbicides, but it is probably your best option.
Alternatively, accept that you need to leave a gap of a couple of feet inside your fence and keep that weed free.

Disclaimer - we don't have a problem with ground elder, but several decades of fighting Horsetail, and that will come up through tarmac and concrete, so count your blessings!

Mrs Pingu:
Was out weeding the ground elder and it's already knitting itself into the roots of existing plants. What a pain in the arse it is.
If I used Round Up on it, even if I don't spray the plants, if the elder roots are entwined with the plants am I going to kill the plants because their roots are touching what I'm going to spray with weedkiller?

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