Late last year (November 2010) when I started working on our (Missouri) native garden -- approx 50 feet (15m) x 30 feet (9m) on a an approx 30° slope -- I decided not to use a landscape fabric or put down a layer of mulch.
A little bit of information relating to my native garden that I've already posted here on SE:
Q. Why didn't I put down a landscape fabric?
Save money.
A native landscape in nature doesn't have a landscape fabric layer.
I did think about getting a bio-degradable landscape fabric, something that would break down within 2 years at the most, and would help with any soil erosion while the (≈170) plants established themselves, but I decided it wasn't worth the expense or time to put down.
To date I've lost 2 plants (which have been replaced) due to soil erosion when we experienced almost unbelievable rainfalls (+3inches / +75mm in 24 hour periods) during May, first week of June.
Now the plants have been in the ground more than 3 months, I'll be surprised if I lose anymore due to "soil erosion".
Q. Why didn't I put down a mulch layer?
Getting enough mulch material onto the slope area didn't seem to be worth the amount of work involved.
Especially when I factored in, mulch shouldn't touch the plants (for plant health reasons).
Below is a summary of what I did (right or wrong):
Beginning of November 2010 we had a large "dead" (unsafe) Willow tree taken down, removed, professional.
After the tree was removed, by hand I cleared the area down to the ground and sowed a Winter cover crop of Annual Rye grass.
Read a lot! about Missouri native plants and spoke with a handful of Missouri "expert" gardeners.
Put together "Plant type list".
Drew the garden in AutoCAD and played with different plant layouts. Choose the layout we liked most and from that extracted a complete "Plant type/number list".
Ordered all the plants from, Missouri Wildflowers Nursery (no affiliation, just a very! happy customer).
- To save some money, we bought "plug" plants ie Very young and small plants.
- After a lot! of soul-searching I decided I would use (basic/original) Roundup (Active ingredient: Glyphosate).
I'm still not happy I went this routine, nor do I think I'll ever be...
I was going to give "Soil solarization" a try, but I wasn't prepared to wait until April 2012 before I could start planting.
- Beginning of April I again by hand cleared the area down to the ground.
Afterward I selectively applied "Roundup" to unwanted plants, vines, that I'd cut down to the ground.
Two weeks later, I again by hand cleared the area down to the ground, then selectively applied "Roundup".
Two weeks after that (end of April), I again by hand cleared the area down to the ground, then selectively applied "Roundup" for the last time.
End of April I collected all the "plug" plants I had ordered.
Due to the weather (unbelievable rainfall) I wasn't able to get out into the garden and plant until 22nd May 2011.
- Before doing so, I once again by hand cleared the area down to the ground.
Finished planting on 24th May 2011.
Every Sunday morning I go out into our native garden for an hour with a hoe in hand and clear any unwanted plants that have popped their heads up above the ground.
- The past 3 or 4 weeks I've definitely noticed a lot! less unwanted plants popping up. I'm now out there hoeing for 30 minutes at the most -- and bare in mind I'm an annal retentive freak (so says my wife).
- During July and August (unbelievably hot, we had 21 continuous days of +100° / +38°C temperatures with zero rainfall) I've had to go out and water the native garden every 2 to 3 days.
I've lost 5 plants (which have been replaced) due to excessive heat.
Next year I expect to water our native garden once a week at the most during excessive heat periods -- the plants should well be on their way to being established by then.
If you wish to go the native plant routine, I gathered together a few resources for you:
Below are a few photos from my Native Garden project:
2010-11-01, Before Willow tree and area was cleared
2010-11-05, After Willow tree and area has been cleared
2011-04-30, "plug" plants waiting for planting
2011-05-07, Annual Rye grass still growing well, even after being cut down to the ground 3 times during April and Roundup having been selectively applied to unwanted plants
2011-05-22, Area after once again being cleared to the ground, immediately before planting
2011-05-24, Area immediately after planting
2011-08-28, Native garden 14 weeks after being planted
