Shade that is dry suggestions

[ninnymary]

I agree with Thistle on the weed barrior. I hate that stuff! It does exactly like she says. Weeds go through it and it lifts when you weed. I will never use it again.

Mary

 

[ducks4you]

Good to know.

 

[flowerbug]

I agree with Thistle on the weed barrior. I hate that stuff! It does exactly like she says. Weeds go through it and it lifts when you weed. I will never use it again.

Mary

we usually top it off pretty high with wood chips and then not much sprouts in it. once in a while a quick skim gets most weeds taken care of. three inches i would consider too thin. anything that lets light get through won't work well for long as most things degrade with exposure to the sun. i also don't mind stacking them deep if i have them as then we can get some mushrooms (we don't eat them, but we like them to look at).

when you begin to get a lot of sprouts happening in any mulch layer that is a good sign that it needs either to be scraped up and cleaned or replaced. for wood chips they can be topped off with another layer of fresh wood chips (we do this in most gardens here about once every 5 years or so) a few times before scraping up what has been decayed. what gets scraped up is prime garden humus.

i have areas that have been weed free for 15 or more years. i have other areas that get needle fall from the pine trees that can sprout weeds but they're not too difficult to remove if taken out before they get too big.

 

[thistlebloom]

three inches i would consider too thin.

I was referencing being over a trees roots. 3" is the maximum you want any mulch that's under a tree. That is, if you care about keeping the tree healthy.

 

[Dirtmechanic]

Once I thought I had dry shade, but it turned out to be wet dense clay shade, where the plants would suffocate unless aerated.