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: * [How to plant a new lawn on a hillside?][1] * [How can I naturally encourage birds into my garden?][2] * [Weed control in a butterfly garden][3] **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):** 1. Beginning of November 2010 we had a large "dead" (unsafe) Willow tree taken down, removed professionally. 2. 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. 3. Read a lot! about Missouri native plants and spoke with a handful of Missouri "expert" gardeners. * [Grow Native!][4] * [Native Landscaping Manual: A Guide to Native Landscaping in Missouri][5] * [MBG Kemper Center ProblemSolver Plants][6] * [Plants of Merit][7] 4. Put together "Plant type list". 5. 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". 6. Ordered all the plants from, [Missouri Wildflowers Nursery][8] (no affiliation, just a very! happy customer). * To save some money, we bought "plug" plants ie Very young and small plants. 7. After a lot! of soul-searching and speaking with those same Missouri "expert" gardeners, I decided I would use (basic/original) [Roundup][9] (Active ingredient: [Glyphosate][10]). * I'm still not happy I went this routine, nor do I think I'll ever be... * I considered going the "[Soil solarization][11]" route, but I wasn't prepared to wait until April 2012 before I could start planting. 8. Beginning of April 2011, 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 (mid April), 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**. 9. End of April 2011, I collected all the "plug" plants I'd ordered. 10. Due to the weather (unbelievable rainfall) I wasn't able to get out into the garden and plant until 22<sup>nd</sup> May 2011. * Before doing so, I once again by hand cleared the area down to the ground. 11. Finished planting on 24<sup>th</sup> May 2011. 12. 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). 13. During July and August (unbelievably hot, we had 21 continuous days of +100° / +38°C temperatures with zero rainfall) I've had to 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:** * [Pennsylvania Native Plant Society][12] * [Native Plant Nurseries - Pennsylvania][13] * [Native Plants][14] from [Penn State Cooperative Extension][15] * Direct link to PDF - [Landscaping with Native Plants in Pennsylvania][16] **Below are a few photos from my Native Garden project:** **2010-11-01, Before Willow tree and area was cleared** ![Willow tree and overgrown garden area][17] **2010-11-05, After Willow tree and area has been cleared** ![Cleared garden area][18] **2011-04-30, "plug" plants waiting for planting** !["Plug" plants][19] **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** ![Garden area covered in Annual Rye grass][20] **2011-05-22, Area after once again being cleared to the ground, immediately before planting** ![Cleared garden area][21] **2011-05-24, Area immediately after planting** ![Planted garden area][22] **2011-08-28, Native garden 14 weeks after being planted** ![Planted garden area][23] [1]: http://gardening.stackexchange.com/questions/30/how-to-plant-a-new-lawn-on-a-hillside/1353#1353 [2]: http://gardening.stackexchange.com/questions/1782/how-can-i-naturally-encourage-birds-into-my-garden/1785#1785 [3]: http://gardening.stackexchange.com/questions/113/weed-control-in-a-butterfly-garden/1298#1298 [4]: http://grownative.org/ [5]: http://www.shawnature.org/nativeland/NativeLandscapingManual/NativeLandscapingManual.aspx [6]: http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/pspindex.shtml [7]: http://www.plantsofmerit.org/ [8]: http://www.mowildflowers.net/ [9]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundup_%28herbicide%29 [10]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate [11]: http://gardening.stackexchange.com/questions/113/weed-control-in-a-butterfly-garden/1298#1298 [12]: http://www.pawildflower.org/ [13]: http://www.plantnative.org/nd_patova.htm [14]: http://extension.psu.edu/private-forests/tools-resources/webinars/previous/wildlife-damage-series/native-plants [15]: http://extension.psu.edu/ [16]: http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/LandscapingBrochure.pdf [17]: https://i.sstatic.net/xi2x2.jpg [18]: https://i.sstatic.net/WUL6O.jpg [19]: https://i.sstatic.net/QPdxT.jpg [20]: https://i.sstatic.net/PTFOV.jpg [21]: https://i.sstatic.net/oQAYN.jpg [22]: https://i.sstatic.net/1OAOj.jpg [23]: https://i.sstatic.net/yASIX.jpg