New flower bed - to use weed suppressant membrane or not?

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I have a good size garden at the front of my house with a lawn that I hate mowing and some good established shrubs, but only a couple flower (a slightly decrepid wisteria and a rhododendron) so I want to reduce my lawn and add flowers.

I have stripped the turf along the fence to create a flower bed - there were loads of roots from the wisteria, as well as some holly, some ivy and other buts of stuff. I've tried to get up as much old stuff as possible and added some top soil. My plan was to lay some weed membrane and then plant through and add mulch on top BUT I love the slightly rambly cottage garden vibe, and I've ordered lupins, foxglove, hollyhocks etc , most of which self seed.

Am I better to add the membrane and have to forgo the benefit of self seeding plants to fill the bed, or skip the membrane and do a bit more work weeding for the first few years (or more). Thanks for any advice - I'm really excited and don't want to mess up!

Hmmm we have this debate in our home…. My OH loves a weed membrane, me I prefer not as I am more like you and like the idea of self seeding gardens etc. however he won! We are both too busy to keep on top of weeds and have a dog so this membrane actually helps prevent her digging up all the plants.

But if I had the time and know that I would weed regularly then I would forgo the membrane. But if not then put one down they do work brilliantly at keeping weeds away!

I've found a weed membrane doesn't stop you getting weeds, it just makes them more surface, so easier to pull out. Those airborne seeds will still land on top.

Another option to consider is using cardboard boxes. Lay them on the ground and put dirt on top of them (especially easy if you have a border on your garden with edging). That doesn't kill the soil underneath but will kill grass and plants. Then the plants you want can grow roots deeper downwards and worms will be able to get into your garden to help with soil health. The cardboard rots away and is like compost brown matter, but not before the grass underneath has died.

It degrades. You will find shards of black plastic running through your soil forever. It stops the birds being able to forage and limits other wildlife. It’s seeping plastic into the ground. It also doesn’t work - weeds grow through it. It’s awful stuff.

Ditto on it degrading. Opt for more than just top soil, soil improver, lots of organic matter. It’s all about the soil health, then the plants will grow beautifully (if kept watered, especially first year..). Choose some ground cover, mulch after planting and then not much chance for weeds. Good luck!

Thank you. Stupidly hadn't thought about it degrading. I can't promise to weed very often! but I think I prefer that option.

Oh, and yes, have also got some well rotted manure to go in with the top soil, missed saying that in my first post.

Thanks so much for the advice, all much appreciated.

Definitely agree about plastic degrading in soil - cardboard (try to use pieces without coloured ink print) as pp suggested is an alternative as pp sugggested). But my top tips are 1) plant densely - have as little bare soil as possible so less room for weeds. If you need to leave space between eg young shrubs for them to grow into, fill in with shallow rooted annuals/biennials that are easy to weed out (eg I let foxgloves self seed in these sorts of spaces as they are super easy to pull out but fill as space while other shrubs are maturing)
and 2) mulch - again you’re covering bare soil (and reducing need for watering) If you can find bags of strulch (not all garden centres stock it) then that is the absolute best for keeping weeds down but you could use bark chipping etc around planting

I’ve found that not having bare soil really cuts the weeding down, not membrane, but planting ground cover. I really don’t think you can get a cottage garden look using weed membrane. Also, make sure your border is wide enough….the ground sounds quite difficult and is likely to be dry, so a wider border is better….

I mulch with woodchips as well which helps keep the weeds down and the birds love it.

A good ground cover plant which fills in the gaps will do the same thing as membrane but will look a lot prettier. For cottage garden you could try eridgeron or a that lovely creeping campanula which grows everywhere (small purple bell flowers) or a geranium or if it's shady a vinca. Whilst they are growing, stick a thick layer of mulch down and that will keep the weeds at bay.

Don't put membrane down with perennials. You need to lift them and d8vide them up every few years, which isn't possible with weed fabric.
Tougher weeds will just put their roots through the weave anyway, and then they're a bugger to remove.

I echo the cardboard no-dig method.

We use weed membrane where there is no planting like under paths etc to make keeping on top of opportunistic weeds easier.
In areas with planting it’s easier and healthier for the soil to use cardboard with soil/compost on top.

We've had good results with that Westland Weed Stop - it's some kind of magical mulchy compost where the compost fibres sort of weave themselves together and stop the weeds from growing through. I applied mine last spring and it worked well through the summer. Bulbs still managed to get through this spring, but I have a few weeds starting this summer so perhaps you have to apply it every year. It's a 10 minute job though to just pull up the few weeds that are there and spread some of this stuff around.

Oh don’t use membrane! I mean, if you need to cover a bed, and not grow anything then that can be ok, but cutting and planting through is a disaster. You’ll be pleased-ish for a couple of years and then it stops working and you have plastic threads forever more.

As others have said: plant densely, use cardboard, and MULCH!

My DH is a weed membrane fan I bloody hate it & I’m the gardener! If you decide to plant anything else it’s so hard to cut through! I’d rather do the weeding!

2nd cardboard. Go to the supermarket and ask them for the pieces they use in the pallets for bottles. No ink, no plastic tape and fairly thick. Unless they're mad busy they'll be happy to let you take them.