Bark chippings

[pandora206]

I've recently had my garden hard landscaped and I'm really pleased with how it has turned out. The company were excellent and followed my plan very carefully. However, at the time they couldn't get bark chippings for the surface my fruit tree/bush area and were supposed to return to complete this. After a couple of emails they still haven't returned so I've decided to have a go myself.

The area has been surfaced with top soil and is almost level with the paving next to it. It's the right hand section next to the fence. I now have a row of raspberry canes defining the area to the left and blackberry and tayberry bushes growing up the trellis. The apple tree has settled in well and appears to be thriving. The raised beds are now full of vegetables and my other planting is almost complete too.

I've been looking online and have managed to source some bark chippings and have been looking at landscape fabric online: I would leave a border by the fence where I have alpine strawberries and under the fruit bushes. I'd initially planned to have a lawn area there but it is quite small (about 3 metres by 5 metres) so I think bark would be better.

My question is what do I need to consider when attempting this? I've been reading up on this and watching YouTube and some gardeners seem against use of weed suppressing fabric which I was planning to use.

I haven't paid for this part of the work so I'll just tell the company to forget it once I've decided how to go about it.

Thanks for reading.

I think the thing with bark is that it gradually breaks down and ideally should then go into the soil. If you put a membrane down then it just forms a crumbly layer above the membrane which eventually can get weeds in it. If you put it directly into soil then you can just top it up every few years.

Also think about feeding your fruit trees and bushes. If you want to add a top layer of compost every few years to increase the yield then you can either pull the membrane back or scrape the bark back. If you do lay membrane then leave the edges around the plants so you can peel it back.

I put weed membrane down and now wish I hadn't - it's a pain to plant through and I think feeding is now hit and miss as I can never be sure how much is getting to the soil below, none in the case of anything top dressed.

Thanks for the comments. I wouldn't put the membrane right up against the plants as they will need room to grow and I'd also be able to mulch the fruit bushes with compost, feed, etc. However it's such as small area maybe it would be easier not to put anything underneath and just use bark. I've been weeding (hoeing) it for the last month or so and it hasn't been too bad with just a few seedlings springing up now and again.

Membrane under bark doesn't really work, the bark will move around exposing the membrane and it will drive you mad. Does your council sell the compost it makes as that is a much better top dressing and will really enrich your soil.

Yes I was going to say exactly the same, the area I used membrane I regret. I have an area about 10ft x 6 that has been used as access to the shed but eventually will be used for planting so just put bark straight down

Also should add. I looked for bulk bag bark, and it worked out cheaper to buy big bags from B+Q as they were on. 3 for 2 offer.

Not sure if that's still the case

agree with others about the membrane.
leave it out.

bark, especially from conifers, can change the ph of the soil. that needs to be considered for the kind of plants you have.

it needs to be renewed every couple of years as it breaks down.

Thanks for the comments all. They've helped me decide not to do the membrane thing. I've been looking at a specialist company (CPA Horticultural) who have quite a range though not the cheapest. Having made a mistake with buying cheap compost from Wickes during lockdown I'm being quite choosy. (The compost is like dried paper pulp. Fortunately it is mainly for mulching new plants and not for my vegetables).
Leaving out the membrane also gives me the option to change the size of the border if I decide to grow more strawbs etc.