Bulbs
Flower Basics
Flower Beds & Specialty Gardens
Flower Garden
Garden Furniture
Garden Gnomes
Garden Seeds
Garden Sheds
Garden Statues
Garden Tools & Supplies
Gardening Basics
Green & Organic
Groundcovers & Vines
Growing Annuals
Growing Basil
Growing Beans
Growing Berries
Growing Blueberries
Growing Cactus
Growing Corn
Growing Cotton
Growing Edibles
Growing Flowers
Growing Garlic
Growing Grapes
Growing Grass
Growing Herbs
Growing Jasmine
Growing Mint
Growing Mushrooms
Orchids
Growing Peanuts
Growing Perennials
Growing Plants
Growing Rosemary
Growing Roses
Growing Strawberries
Growing Sunflowers
Growing Thyme
Growing Tomatoes
Growing Tulips
Growing Vegetables
Herb Basics
Herb Garden
Indoor Growing
Landscaping Basics
Landscaping Patios
Landscaping Plants
Landscaping Shrubs
Landscaping Trees
Landscaping Walks & Pathways
Lawn Basics
Lawn Maintenance
Lawn Mowers
Lawn Ornaments
Lawn Planting
Lawn Tools
Outdoor Growing
Overall Landscape Planning
Pests, Weeds & Problems
Plant Basics
Rock Garden
Rose Garden
Shrubs
Soil
Specialty Gardens
Trees
Vegetable Garden
Yard Maintenance
What to Use As a Weed Barrier Under Stone
What to Use As a Weed Barrier Under Stone. Weeds grow freely wherever they are left alone. Even when stones are used as barriers, decorations or flower beds, weeds can fit between the cracks and keep a gardener busy pulling them. Luckily, there are some simple ways to prevent weeds from inundating stone landscaping in your yard. Landscaping fabrics...
Weeds grow freely wherever they are left alone. Even when stones are used as barriers, decorations or flower beds, weeds can fit between the cracks and keep a gardener busy pulling them. Luckily, there are some simple ways to prevent weeds from inundating stone landscaping in your yard. Landscaping fabrics and barriers available at your local home-improvement store have evolved over the past decade to include high-tech woven materials that allow water and oxygen to penetrate, while preventing weed growth.
Plastic
Use black plastic to prevent sunlight from reaching any weeds beneath the surface. Use landscaping stakes to hold the plastic in place.
Make sure that you remove all visible weeds before laying the plastic down.
When placing the stones on top of the plastic, be careful not to puncture the plastic, as doing so will allow weed penetration.
Mortar
Applying a two-inch coat of mortar on top of plastic will function as a weed barrier with added weight. The mortar takes the place of mulch and provides a steady base onto which to set your stones.
Mix 1/2 bag of type S mortar, eight shovels of sand and three gallons of water. Pour the mortar out onto the area that will have the stones, and smear it out onto the ground using a masonry trowel. Fill the mortar with smaller stones, and allow it to dry over night.
Check the mortar for cracks before you continue to stack on more stones. The rest of the stones may be dry stacked; the first layer of stones serve only as a foundation for the remaining stones.
This type of mortar barrier will work best on banks and hillsides that are being covered with stones as a decorative device.
Woven Fabric
Woven landscaping fabric has the benefit of allowing water and oxygen to penetrate the ground beneath. This would be helpful if you have plants intermixed with your stones. It would allow for a healthy atmosphere of growth, while preventing surrounding weeds from penetrating the barrier.
Install the fabric in the same way as the landscaping plastic, but put small slits in the fabric where you want to insert plants and flowers through the barrier.
Use landscaping spikes or staples with the fabric, and stack your stones onto the fabric, being careful not to tear or damage the fabric.
