Garden Bark

[ST.Andrew]

I was going to lay garden bark all round the trees & bushes between my lawn & the wall about 3-4 inches deep,but have been advised to lay black polythene first .Is this necessary I thought the bark had acidic properties which kept the weeds from growing anyone any advice on this .
ST. Andrew

[weeal]

Ive used this before, but didnt put polythene down, and what happened was the birds pulled all the bark off the soil to get at the worms, it was all over the grass so often that we just gave up.
The polythene would be better for keeping light off the soil to prevent weeds, not sure if that would possibly deter the birds too!
It looks great the bark, I just got fed up with it strewn everywhere.
Good luck

[Robinia]

I use the weed suppressing membrane, not plastic, in my garden. Bark will slide around on plastic & you'll need to prod lots of holes in it to let the rain through. No need to buy the expensive stuff, that's more for gravel, you should find rolls of it in Wilkos, diy stores etc.
Bear in mind that bark disintegrates very quickly & you'll need to top it up regularly. I sometimes wonder whether the birds are taking mine away & redistributing it as a prank!

[Thunderbird+]

Bark chips are a good choice of mulch for under trees and shrubs and a depth of 3-4 inches (ideal, 2" minimum) It will retain moisture which will reduce the need for watering and also supress weed growth mainy by blocking out the light.

If you have previously cleared the ground of weeds the mulch should last for 2-3 years and only a little hand weeding required.

If you do decide to use polythene sheeting, make sure it's a semi permeable membrane ie woven polypropolene, which will block out light, allow water to perculate through but stop weeds coming through.
Seeing that you already have established trees and shrubs, I'd go for the no membrane option but if you do, make sure that the mulch is not touching the base of the shrubs otherwise it can cause them to rot, just leave a small area clear around the stems. Good luck. Tbird+

[ST.Andrew]

Thank youall for your helpI think I will just lay the bark 3-4 ins.on top of the soil ,which I have already weeded and if the weeds do come up I can always spray them .We dont get a lot of birdsthis far north apart from the odd blackbird but we will see thanks again .
ST.Andrew.