AboutJonathan Radford Expertise Hi, I am an ecological landscape designer and I have lived in Italy for nearly 15 years. I am specialised in the design of ecological Italian gardens but also in the reduction of water, maintenance and damage to the environment. I can answer questions on almost all gardening queries.
Education/Credentials I have an N.C in Horticulture and garden design and a City and Guilds in Commercial horticulture, both gained in the U.K. I run my own business "ecologica gardens" in Italy and operate across the world performing ecological garden designs.
Past/Present Clients See my website www.ecologicagardens.com
Question I recently removed all the mulch in my landscaping due to a fungus that wouldn't go away. I want to put down something to prevent weeds, and then lava rock. Do I need to remove the plants to put down the fabric first, or is there a way to get it around the plants that are already there?
Answer Hy Maryanne
Ok, mulch is used to improve soil conditions and its breaking down into the soil is the key factor in soil health. Therefore organic mulch produce mycillium and essential fungi that are very rarely of a harmful nature. Even though these fungi may have fruiting bodies (mushrooms) this doesn't mean that they are harming your plants - it's a totally natural thing!
If you must remove the mulch and place more on your border then I would recommend not putting a fabric underneath it. We place a fabric underneath when the gravel will be walked on, so as not to mix the gravel with the soil that's underneath the gravel. However, in your flower border, you will not be walking on the gravel there so the fabric is not necessary.Placing fabric amongst the plants can prove to be very tedious and is not worth the effort.
If your plants are Mediterranean then use a gravel, even a laval gravel but try to use a light coloured material that will not steal too much available light when it rains on gloomy days in the winter. Laval graval is quite dull!However, if you have plants like acers or rhododendrons etc then use an organic mulch such as pine bark as this provides the acid conditions that these plants need.
Check out this link to a recent article that I wrote about mulches on my website
