For that price, that is likely not the petrochemical product with the regular pattern of holes in it, but the woven fabric, not quite like mirafi. There are windows on the packaging to determine the consituents of the fabric.

You didn't describe the pitch (angle) of the slope, so advice is difficult to give. And your concern should be that with the angle, whatever is on top of the fabric is going to slide; this is a universal problem everywhere, not unique to you. Depending on the pitch, the mulch material, and the volume of sheet flow, mirafi may work better than the woven fabric but the cost...the cost...

Dan

Thanks, just doing a web search now so I can't touch n feel, maybe tomorrow. I'll need it soon.

Its a small area but its steep, greater than 1 in 3 at its worst, tapering to nearly neatral in about 10 -15' along the slope.

The underlying soil is stable even at that slope but part of it will have to have permanent protection which will be in the form of biodegr. erosion fab (got some left overs from the last project) over a compatable ground cover likely to be planted more or less with the toms. I'll take a suggestion on the gc too if ya got one.

I had to bust it up this time (tree roots n rocks) but I can be more gentle with it from now on.

Fertility checked out nicely on the meter since I composted the area heavily last fall but I should have added more lime. Still short of 6 in spots. Yikes!

Wood ash?

The best black groundcover is arguably the Lumite woven fabrics. Unfortunately they are only available in commercial size rolls.

http://www.shawfabrics.com/

DarJones

Thanks Fusion,

Looks like a good sale they are featuring but I'm thinkin the wider size would suit my purpose better. I'll be taking it back up at planting time and using organic mulch, probably straw. I'll make a permanent repair to the sloped area at that time.

I was very surprised at the low ph readings yesterday. I've got about 2.5 months till planting but I want to cover this area within days. Last fall, with readings in the 5.5 range, I put 50lbs of Sweet Limestone on it.

According to this site,

http://www.thegardenhelper.com/acidsoil.html

since the soil is clay and by far the major ingredient in our compost is oak leaves followed my horse manure with sawdust bedding, that should've raised it to an acceptable level. This was not hydrated lime as I know it, the bag says "Calcium Carbonate min 95.00%" It was very fine but not as fine as the hydrated line that I'm familiar with. Yesterday, several spots were still below 6 and none much above it.

The meter reads 6.8 in distilled water. Interestingly my tap water, softened with potassium chloride reads 5.8 hmmm.

P.S. Fusion,

I noticed on your site that you offer Missouri Pink Love Apple.

I bought the seed last yr. from TF and its a new raving fav for flavor. Its listed as a PL but if it is, its one of the varients. On Craigs site, I found a data base of PLs and it has a notation of "varying info".

Can you tell me about yours? Leaf form, taste etc.

Missouri Pink Love Apple should be Potato Leaf. Flavor is good to very good but production is not as much as I would like in the heat and humidity here.

DarJones

Thanks, even if mine are wrong they're great and will be growing them from now on. I'll deal with the conundrum of what they actually are at a later date, perhaps by ordering a couple of yours. There are pics available on the web and none that I've found, show the standard PL form.

Bought 2 types of fabric last eve. One is a spun woven (?) fabric, rated for 15 yrs. Its a little stiff but its somewhat fuzzy and with adaquate anchorage should provide the slope protection I desire. It looks like it should be very durable and is a dark charcoal grey.

The other is an 18 mil plastic membrane with tiny holes. Total guess but somewhere around 50/50. Black, rated for 10 yrs. but its pretty flimsy. We'll see.

I don't think I want to add anything more to the soil at this time. I'll amend the holes as needed and hope :-) Probably should try tweaking the water softener though.