Weed suppressing fabric

[ferginitaly]

I only manage out to my place in Italy about every 2 months and the small garden is always very overgrown. Does anyone know where I can get some weed suppressing fabric which I could lay over the whole garden until I'm ready to pave it over? I only go for a few days at a time, so if anybody knows of a chain of garden centres with a branch near Rome or between Rome and Viterbo I would be grateful.
Thanks
Linda

[janetta]

any ferramenta has black weed suppressing fabric - buy a roll.

[Learning By Error]

There's quite a good range of garden centres along the SE shore of Lago di Bracciano, just N of the town of Bracciano.

You mentioned eventually concreting over the garden, but you should also be able to get plants there which would offer sufficient ground cover to prevent much in the way of weeds.....

[ferginitaly]

Any idea how I say Weed suppressing fabric in Italian?
Thanks!

[gailsomers]

Not too sure of spelling, but phonetically "Pachamatura" it's black normally.


We have covered most of our gardens with it and covered that with small volcanic pebbles.

[Torchiarolan]

Originally Posted by gailsomers

Not too sure of spelling, but phonetically "Pachamatura" it's black normally.


We have covered most of our gardens with it and covered that with small volcanic pebbles.

You can also have a really nice maintenance free garden by digging holes where you want shrubs, palms etc (holes same size as pot the plants is in)
Lay down your sheet of ground cover ( mipex is a trade name in UK/Ireland and can come in rolls up to 5.5 metres wide) weigh down one end as gailsomers advises with pebbles and work back until you get to first hole, make an X shaped cut in mipex above the hole, fold back four corners and plant chosen plant through it. contine to roll out the mipex, covering with pebbles as you go, continue inserting plants as you go.
Once finished you will have a beautiful level area covered with pebble like gailsomers garden, but will also have plants at chosen locations throughout.
Virtually maintenance free. There will be the odd weed grow at the edge where mipex abuts terrace or wall under the pebble, or at the base of a tree planted through it.
However, rain permeates the groundcover for the plants and drainage, the weave allows the soil to "breathe", the plants grow quicker in spring and continue to do so until later into the autumn as the soil warms up quicker in spring and retains heat for longer than bare ground in the autumn-time.
It also acts as a mulch, cutting down water loss through evaporation, and so is very useful in dry areas or for lazy gardeners.
If using more than one width, allow a good overlap, there are special clips for joining sheets but if it is buried under 4inches of pebble it is not unnecessary to use these.
Spray the area with a good weedkiller to kill all growth before laying it down, otherwise huge rooted plants like docks, thistles etc can make a bulge in it as they try to grow back if they are not already sorted beforehand.
Happy gardening

[elliven]

Trouble with weed supp. fabric is that it aways seems to find its way to the surface, partic at the edges and then looks orrible but I do sympathise with your bi-monthly visit problem. Have you tried the composted bark chips mulch method - works quite well for us. If you have a big area there may be a way of buying in bulk...