Weed Matting

[Doug99]

Hi All
I'm lifting my daughters front garden slabs which have been laid over 10yrs and overgrown with weeds.
The aim is to have a low maintenance garden with layer of shingle.
Need to lay a weeding mat, but are they all very much the same? Somany to choose from and any advice would be welcome.
The only problem I have is my poor back from lifting the slabs, but that's life....
Cheers all
Doug

 

[scbk]

You will eventually get weeds growing in the gravel/shingle
I would say grass is low maintenance
An area like that you could even just cover it in wildflower seeds and cut it once a year

 

[Why Not Indeed]

It's unlikely that shingle would be any less likely to attract weeds than the slabs you've taken up.

 

[endecotp]

“Weed matting” does not stop most weeds - see other threads about this.

Put down a load of topsoil and plant some plants.

If you want “low maintenance” I suggest ground cover roses. Look much nicer than a load of stones.

Also easy to grow, things like poppies. They’re looking amazing in my garden right now and only required broadcasting a packet of seeds in the spring.

 

[martygturner]

I have two 60sqm drives both gravel both with the woven weed membrane, never had an issue in 8 years, sure some weeds take hold in the gravel but you can pull those out easily and to be fair we just spray ours once a year in march, job done.

we used https://www.travisperkins.co.uk/geotextiles/4trade-heavy-duty-landscape-fabric-2m-x-25m/p/344304 but you do need 25mm of gravel as a minimum, 50 is best as it will break down with UV bleaching.