Weed suppresent and gravel around fruit bushes / trees

[Trevor Holloway]

I need to cut down on the amount of grass on my plot and was wondering if there are any disadvantages (apart from cost) of putting down the black woven membrane covered with gravel stones, around and under current bushes & fruit trees in the fruit cage.
Any feed back welcome.

[Trevor Holloway]

[tonybloke]

the landscape fabric is a good idea, the stones will become a nuisance. just use the fabric ;)
hold it down with bent pieces of wire, like giant staples.

[Old bird]

The only disadvantage of covering them would be that you will have to feed them with the watering can as you can't put a large dollop of manure or compost over the top of gravel!  I think that just leaving the landscape fabric may look a little "basic" and not very pretty!

Old Bird

[1066]

If you do use membrane I'd go for some that is heavy duty that will last a few years and not the cheapo stuff, that way the grass is less likely / slower to grow back through the membrane

1066

[manicscousers]

we use membrane covered with bark chips, the fabric is cut along the middle so we can pull it back for feeding  :)