Suppress weeds before mulching?

10 years ago

I have a planting bed that I am trying to prepare. This planting bed had wildflowers, weeds and sunflowers growing in it last year. This year a lot of those same flowers/weeds came up and were very dense. I have cleared the area of these undesired plants. To clear the area I used a kick style sod cutter that cut the roots 1-2 inches below the surface, then I raked up the debris. Here is a picture of the cleared area:

I would like to add a layer of compost, around 1 inch thick, then 3-4 inches of bark mulch. Will the weeds come up through or did cutting the roots around 1-2 inches under the soil do enough?

I have read that many people use newspaper to prevent the weeds from coming up but there is no way I could get enough newspaper to cover this area in the short time I have to finish. I have the next 10 days off of work and I need to complete this project by then.

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Comments (4)

kimmq
10 years ago
A 4 to 5 inch thick layer of com0post and mulch should be enough the suppress all but the most stubborn unwanted plant growth. Newspaper, or cardboard, blocks growing weeds from getting access to the sunlight they need to grow and allows less mulch to be used while a good deep mulch does the same thing especially where the unwanted plant growth has been removed.

Some of the plant roots left 1 to 2 inches down most likely will try grow back but combined with the depth of the mulch and persistence in keeping any unwanted plant growth pinched off that should not be much of a problem.

Keep in mind that mulches are not a total answer to unwanted plant growth, they are an aid. Seeds, blown in on the wind or dropped by birds, from unwanted plants can find a good growing medium in many mulches.

kimmq is kimmsr
taylorjonl Taylor
Original Author
10 years ago
kimmq, thanks for the input, that is what I was hoping the answer would be. I also understand mulch doesn't stop weeds, you can barely see the other bed in the picture and I spend a couple days in early spring pulling weeds from it.
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Richard Brennan
10 years ago
This is all means to what end? What is your endgame for this bed?
taylorjonl Taylor
Original Author
10 years ago
The end game is, I want a yard that I can spend 2-3 weeks in spring, 2-3 weeks in fall, that will get me out of my cave of technology into the sun and nature. This the area last year:

Different angle but I grew wildflowers last year, I loved it the neighbors hated it. If I didn't have the city on me I would do this every year, right now it looks like this:

Boring... But more maintainable.

In the end I hope to have mostly shade and hope my neighbors love Periwinkle.