This is the third house I’ve moved into that’s had grass and weeds growing through tarp and rock. It’s so frustrating because you can’t mow it or use a weedwacker. I pulled some rocks away to check the condition of the tarp. If I replace it, will it effectively prevent grass growing through? Or should I just remove all the rocks and tarp and figure out something else? I live in NorCal zone 9b. It’s over a hundred most of the summer and the yard gets constant scorching heat all day every day so I think ultimately i want to do a couple small areas with native plants and then make a path with the rocks.
by stolen_moments92
14 Comments
If you replace the tarp, you will be left with the exact same situation in a few short years (maybe even within one year). Those things deteriorate really fast. I would heartily recommend removing the whole thing and doing something different.
No idea why everyone puts rocks like this down, it never works long term and I’ve never seen it look good. Obviously you inherited this, so I’m just talking about the previous owners/every house I drive by that seems obsessed with gravel or rocks.
I’d remove the rocks and never bring them back, remove the fabric because it isn’t doing anything useful, and turn the entire area into a native garden bed with a stepping stone path to move throughout it. Don’t forget the hardscape.
Please don’t use landscaping fabric.
Edit: to prep the area I’d lay 12-18” of arborist chip on the ground and wait. In a year it would be ready to plant depending on what you want to plant. Creeping plants don’t particularly like to be inhibited by a very thick layer of chip but overtime the chip will break down and just turn into a beautiful humus anyway.
The chip alone is enough to kill off whatever growth is there assuming it’s not a particularly nasty invasive like Japanese knotweed. Cardboard isn’t necessary to layer under it and is likely more detrimental to soil health in the very short term than chip alone is. Not that it would make any meaningful impact – cardboard is short lived. Just feel it’s worth mentioning.
Double edit: I found that layering a healthy layer of non mulched up leaves over a thick layer of arborist chips really seems to speed up the breakdown process. So if you went the arborist chip route, something to keep in mind.
Every time we go outside for some yard work we take a good while to curse the previous home owner. TWO layers of tarp and rock under the weeds. One area is like a lasagna of rocks and tarp.
OP the tarp will never do anything, the rocks are a huge PITA, remove and never replace either.
Mulch is a great idea, and if you don’t want to go too into it right now, just look around for some native creeping plants for coverage and a couple native pollinator bushes for interest.
Check out r/Ceanothus for plant ideas. I believe it’s all about California native plants.
Wild seeds and dirt will always end up there and growing. If you truly don’t want ANYTHING growing, you probably need to do a concrete pad. Or maybe a ton more rocks, like 6 in deep layer of rocks and even then you’ll still get some weeds inevitably over the years.
Oof, I would never put down tarps again! You’re just giving yourself the same headache years down the road. I personally would remove it, I would go around to various shops and collect their old cardboard boxes, put a single layer or two of cardboard down, then wet it with a hose, then go on FB market place and look for FREE mulch from people who have too much, lay down the mulch, maybe like 4 inches?. Done. Should stop most of the grass and” weeds”
pile on more rocks
Landscaping fabric was invented by one of Satans very best evil entities, remove everything, build up the soil with chips/snuff out weeds and grass with it, and enjoy the blank canvas to plant native plants, and/or food~ (soil test is handy before growing food)
So much potential here with some hardwork, best of luck!
The plastic tarps and rocks is one of the worst shitty ideas known to man and iv literally never seen it work. Grass and weeds grows straight through those tarps and rocks
It looks like you’re not really using that area for anything else. My vote would be to remove the tarps and rocks, and put down a native wildflower seed mix.
Use water vinegar salt and a dash of dish soap with a pump sprayer will work ,you’ll have to reapply once every 2 weeks or after it rains should get that cleared up
Unless you are parking here, remove the rocks and fabric. Put down a thick layer of arborist chips, like 4 to 6 inches. Wait a season, and next spring or even next fall, plant what you want.
The only place I use rocks like this is drainage areas to slow water. It might also be fine for a drive, but it needs to be a lot thicker and ideally use those grid things or concrete blocks with a thick layer of sand underneath to keep the rocks in place.
I’ll counter the easy answers with the much more complex and therefore less popular one.
The grass isn’t growing up through the fabric/tarp, it’s germinating on top of the fabric and then forcing roots down through it. Landscape fabric can work well **if, and only if, there is enough drainage**. It needs either enough slope, or enough holes/gaps for drainage so that the dust which gets onto the fabric in between the rocks never stays damp for long enough to support germination. Even at that, a small number of seeds will find a way to germinate, so you still have to do a little bit of maintenance. I have commercial landscape fabric under 4″ of clean 1″ rock and have never had a problem. It is mostly sloped about 5-10 degrees, and there are open gaps several inches wide between sheets of the fabric. Anywhere that there was some roughness of the underlying soil which might cause water to pool on the fabric, I punched multiple holes in it with a spike before the rocks went down. I use an electric weed torch to spot-kill maybe three or four dozen germinated grass/weeds each summer and set large ceramic pots on top of the rocks which are filled with a mix of annuals and perennials. It has been almost infinitely easier than the previous lawn.
You can also do that without the fabric at all, but again, the rock needs to be several inches thick. **Real inches**, not “I put down four inches which are actually two inches” and also if the underlying soil is moist, you will have more break-through
I have a similar situation. I’m ripping everything out and planting a native meadow selected to survive on natural rainfall. Should look like this:
https://preview.redd.it/mhfu3rjcbdrf1.png?width=1024&format=png&auto=webp&s=a55077cd7ea702236817c798e21e55f3059a0408