Landscaping Question

[EMHDad]

I need some landscaping advice. We are working on our yard. We bought the house a year and a half ago. Last year we put in a fence. This spring we are trying to improve the aesthetics of the outside. We are mulching about 3' wide area around the house, give or take. it will only be about 2' around the back deck, but more like 3' on the sides of the house. A lot of the area we are mulching is dirt where bushes used to be. However, a lot of grass and weeds have crept up into the space. Also, we are mulching the space in the yard where we put our new trampoline to make it hassle free for mowing/weed whacking.)

Here's my question. We are using grass/weed killer in those areas. Do I need to rip up the dead grass or can I just mulch it?

Thank you for any advice.

 

[MIGrandma]

DH just uses the weed/grass killer (Roundup) before we mulch, but we do lay landscaping fabric down over the dead grass before we put down the mulch.

We mulched 75% of my flower garden last year, laying landscaping fabric down in most of the areas. Where there is landscape fabric under the mulch there are no spring weeds/grass popping up, but in a couple smaller areas we didn't put the fabric down and the weeds are coming up. So landscaping fabric really does help. Of course it's a little more time consuming to lay that down first before the mulch, but really helps in the long run in keeping weeds/grass from popping through.

We are going to re-landscape around our deck later this spring. We currently have small stones but we would rather have mulch. We have bushes too, and a couple of those are dead so we need to pull them out. Then we're going to remove all of the stones, spray Roundup to kill the weeds/grass, lay down the landscape fabric, and then mulch. Will be a long process but will be nice when finished.

 

[loves to dive]

My DH also uses roundup on ours. I have a rose garden so no fabric since I plant a new bush every year, we re-mulch about every other year, we use wood chips.

 

[Wishing on a star]

With as much as you are putting into this, and you want it to look great and be more maintenance free... I would def. use some landscaping weed-block fabric-material under the mulch.

If you use enough round-up to really kill the weeds and grasses, no need to pull them up. It might be beneficial to not break up the dirt, and expose new dirt/roots/seeds.

 

[MIGrandma]

My DH also uses roundup on ours. I have a rose garden so no fabric since I plant a new bush every year, we re-mulch about every other year, we use wood chips.

When I want to add a new plant to my flower garden I just brush away all the mulch which exposes the landscaping fabric, then cut an "X" in the fabric and fold 4 sections back, put the plant in, pull the 4 sections back up and re-mulch.

 

[MagicaDeSpell]

FWIW, I would recommend against mulching right up against the building. We had a series of terrible fires in this area, all caused by a spark getting started in the mulch around a building. One was at one of those extended stay hotels and some children died. Granted, most of those mulch fires are caused by smokers tossing cigarettes into the mulch, so not as big a problem by a house, but things happen.

We are planning out the landscaping around the house we're buying and we were looking at no-mow grass (its a variety that simply doesn't grow very high) then putting down a lot of native wildflower mix and naturalizing bulb flowers near the house. It isn't going to be a very formal look, so no squared off boxwood shrubs in front, but it should be low maintenance and no mulched beds near the house.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I need some landscaping advice. We are working on our yard. We bought the house a year and a half ago. Last year we put in a fence. This spring we are trying to improve the aesthetics of the outside. We are mulching about 3' wide area around the house, give or take. it will only be about 2' around the back deck, but more like 3' on the sides of the house. A lot of the area we are mulching is dirt where bushes used to be. However, a lot of grass and weeds have crept up into the space. Also, we are mulching the space in the yard where we put our new trampoline to make it hassle free for mowing/weed whacking.)

Here's my question. We are using grass/weed killer in those areas. Do I need to rip up the dead grass or can I just mulch it?

Thank you for any advice.

Horticulturist here.

Round Up ONLY kills foliage and does not kill roots. I do not recommend that for the trampoline area.

I do recommend ripping out the grass and weeds, apply a weed mat barrier, and then mulch.

As far as your other areas, you need to begin the headache of "hand pulling" weeds. When you "hand pull" you use a shovel. You must remove the entire root system of the weed, otherwise it will just regrow. Weed spray will not kill the entire root system of many weeds.

Now BEFORE you mulch (or pull back the mulch if you already mulched), hand pull with shovel, then you apply weed preventer. This will stop any seeds from germinating. Preventer needs to be in contact with soil to work. Do not apply to top of mulch.

Make sure to use weed preventer early in the season. Not sure where you live but here in MO you can start using it in Feb/March, weather dependent of course. This year was bad as we had a very warm Feb and weeds were already growing.

So yes, I feel your pain. I have been pulling weeds for awhile.

 

[IndyRnRfan]

I was told by a landscaper to not use a fabric when putting down mulch, only rock. The fabric doesn't prevent weeds and it allows the roots of the flowers to spread just under the fabric instead of down in the soil. Of course we didn't listen and I'll be darned if two years later we got weeds coming through the fabric and it's a pia every spring to take care of. We planted a grass type bush and that sucker has roots that spread 10' in both directions within 2 years. I will never use fabric again with mulch. Not sure about why he said it was good for rock though.

For your trampoline area, use total vegetation killer. It will kill whatever you got and you can just leave just like it is and put whatever you want over it. I helped a buddy do this a few years back for his trampoline and he's not had any issues. He did put down rubber mulch and no barrier.

 

[North of Mouse]

I need some landscaping advice. We are working on our yard. We bought the house a year and a half ago. Last year we put in a fence. This spring we are trying to improve the aesthetics of the outside. We are mulching about 3' wide area around the house, give or take. it will only be about 2' around the back deck, but more like 3' on the sides of the house. A lot of the area we are mulching is dirt where bushes used to be. However, a lot of grass and weeds have crept up into the space. Also, we are mulching the space in the yard where we put our new trampoline to make it hassle free for mowing/weed whacking.)

Here's my question. We are using grass/weed killer in those areas. Do I need to rip up the dead grass or can I just mulch it?

Thank you for any advice.

I will go against some of the advice about putting down landscape fabric with some personal experience. We have several large flower beds, as well as natural areas, that we decided to mulch a few years ago. 'Now', as the mulch has started to gradually 'break' down and with dust and weed seeds flying around (unobtrusively) we have started to have weeds growing that put down roots through the fabric and are a 'pain'

So, we ripped all the fabric up and will 'not' use it again. We just mulch heavily every year and find that does better.

Another situation we had! We love roses, so we had a huge rose bed which we put down fabric, cut our X's, planted, then mulched. Looked great, until after a couple years our rose bushes started dying - yep, the fabric was holding in too much moisture. Roses (lots of plants) don't like 'wet feet', so with much work, out came the fabric.

Anyway, after a long story, better to just 'Round up', then mulch heavily as often as needed. Just a little something to think about.

We do spray our mulched areas with insect control every spring though as different type insects seem to thrive there otherwise.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Honestly rethinking this whole scenario, you should not put down mulch under a trampoline. You are asking for splinters and possibly injury from it.

Grass or rubber would be the preferred medium here.

 

[cabanafrau]

Curious if anyone's ever heard of this method. Maybe about three years ago at church we put down seven to ten layers of newspaper under a new mulch installation. So far it seems to be working well. It was a suggestion of someone in the congregation and it was decided to give it a try. Never heard it recommended anywhere.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Curious if anyone's ever heard of this method. Maybe about three years ago at church we put down seven to ten layers of newspaper under a new mulch installation. So far it seems to be working well. It was a suggestion of someone in the congregation and it was decided to give it a try. Never heard it recommended anywhere.

Oh yea, I have done this. You need to put down more paper though because it disintegrates, esp. if you have a lot of rain or snow.

 

[_19disnA]

I use one of those vegetation killers to eliminate weeds from areas where there is mulch. Pulling weeds is annoying in mulch and even if the vegetation killer doesn't kill the roots, I can spray the area in a few minutes vs. spending hours pulling weeds. They sell the concentrate at the local home improvement store and is far more economical then buying the ready made product. A quart of the ready-made product is around $6 while the concentrate when diluted costs a fraction of that. I put the required amount of concentrate in my tank sprayer and mix with water. Can do the entire yard in a few minutes. During the summer I might do that every 2-3 weeks on any areas where I see weeds returning.

I would rip up the grass you don't want initially and then put down mulch. Have heard about using newspaper to kill the grass, but not sure how long that takes or if the roots will still grow back. Have used those various landscape fabrics in the past and didn't find they worked any better then just using mulch and vegetation killer.

Have used products like Preen that supposedly prevent weeds and never had any luck with them. Vegetation killers have worked the best for me.

 

[Strandberg]

Spraying is an economical way to kill the grass. I've used Preen, and it didn't help either. Vegetation killers sometimes work and sometimes don't. I suppose it depends on the grass you grow and the region you live. In Chicago, we have unstable weather, and floods are a common phenomenon here. I don't know how all this affects the soil, but grass usually grows fast and reaches incredible height here. So, having lawn mowers, weed eaters, and other tools is essential for me. And yesterday, I read on https://www.growgardener.com/best-weed-puller/ about handy weed pullers that can be added to one's tool collection. I like their price and features.

 

[mrodgers]

Landscape fabric is useless because it is still porous. Weeds still sprout under it and can get through the fabric sometimes, but the big problems is seeds falling into the landscape on top of the fabric and sprouting. Those are more common and once sprouted, the roots get through the fabric to root in the dirt and those are much more difficult to pull out.