Weed suppressing membrane or not?

[ritchie111]

I think you have more money than you know what to do with!! Covering everything with membrane then cutting holes in it

I got the membrane free

[Mikey]

Ritchie, this is the edge of my plot at the moment, photo taken yesterday.

I've built raised beds some I've lined with cardboard which is great for blocking out the light, but you need something to weigh it down, stop it blowing away. They are being filled with approximately 14-16 inches of well rotted horse manure. Below this I have heavy clay full of couch grass, where I've tried to dig it out Its been very time consuming to get rid of it.

Where I have already done this I don't have any couch grass but I do have a lovely collection of other weeds, from the muck. It doesn't matter what you do you'll have weeds, and if you haven't got any the ground is pretty poor stuff.

[snakeshack]

I use woven weed control membrane (mypex) for my paths,no woodchip etc and it supresses most weeds but there are some ,paticularly horsetail that just spear through.I have just taken on (invaded actually but thats another story) the plot next to mine which had been totally covered with horticultural plastic at some stage in the past,there were obviously gaps where the bramble ,ash,hawthorn raspberries nettles etc came through,the plastic covered the whole area (28m x 8M)at a depth of 0-15cm and is a nightmare to remove as the roots have "nailed" it in place. It can only be removed in small sections and the clay underneath has vitually no organic content.where I have cleared I have laid down cardboard punched holes for spuds and covered with manure straw mix.the spuds are up the cavered areas have no weeds and hopefully after another load of manure in the autumn the soil will improve further.
If you do put membrane down make sure that you aren't going to have to remove it or leave it behind for someone else to.

[BertieFox]

I agree about horsetail. We had an invested area right behind the house which I levelled, covered with membrane and then a thick layer of pea gravel to make a patio. The horsetail kept coming through the membrane all over the place. Only by breaking it off the moment it appeared did we finally defeat it. It took three years, and now, after ten years, there is no more horsetail in the immediate area, but lots waiting nearby to reinvade should we drop our guard.