killing grass and weeds with a mulch

[wrathkeg]

Hi all,

At the moment part of my garden is taken up with grass, and weeds (nothing serious, I don't think). I'd like to kill this area off over the winter in preparation for some landscaping work in the spring. I'd really rather avoid weedkillers, so I'm thinking of some kind of mulch for over the winter. Has anyone on here done that successfully? If so, what did you use (landscape fabric? plastic? carpet? cardboard? etc)? How long did it take to kill off what was covered up?

Thanks!

wrathkeg

 

[Deleted2797112]

I've used all of these and tarpaulins too on allotments. They all work, basically anything that excludes light will do the job. The only one I wouldn't use again is carpet, horrid stuff. If all you've got is lawn-type grass and annual weeds, they'll die off pretty quickly once you cover them, certainly in time for Spring digging. If you've got tougher stuff like couch grass, the roots are likely to still need pulling out. In my experience, you can cover it for years and it will still re-grow from the smallest sliver! Under impermeable covers like plastic, it can get a bit slimy and smelly but it doesn't matter.

 

[wrathkeg]

Thanks! I think I'll give a large roll of woven fabric a go.