Why landscape fabric

One way to avoid that initial flush of weeds is to cover the soil. The fabric suppresses the weeds for a couple of years, but eventually, new weed seeds blow into the landscape bed. Or a few particularly tenacious weeds manage to grow right through the fabric. If an organic mulch was installed on top of the landscape fabric, that begins to decompose, but cannot be incorporated into the native soil because of the fabric.

Permanent — While most landscape fabrics are comprised of some type of plastic fiber, they are not permanent. Some cheaper fabrics will degrade in the soil, while others get pulled up by the gardener pulling up a weed.

And if you like to plant lots of annuals in your landscape beds, you will wind up with Swiss cheese landscape fabric as you must cut holes to reach the soil beneath for the plant roots. So what, if anything, can be used under the mulch?

Here are few other alternatives to landscape fabrics:. Newspaper — Many homes have a pile of old newspapers and if not old papers can often be picked up at the newspaper printer.

Some commercial garden suppliers are now offering newsprint in large rolls. A preference for using newspaper is that it is not permanent. Use only a couple of sheets thick as too much newsprint could lead to an impermeable barrier. Avoid using glossy paper inserts. Prevents soil erosion: Acting as a physical barrier, landscape fabric also protects from soil erosion. If you live in an area that gets a lot of heavy rains and soil washout is an issue, you can use landscape fabric to prevent the soil from being washed away every time it rains.

Keeps mulch in place: Landscape fabric is often used beneath hardscaping. It is also laid on top of gravel, rock, or hardscaping. Landscape fabric prevents inorganic mulch such as gravel and stones from sinking into the soil. Whatever non-organic mulching materials you used for your outdoor space, these will be well-protected by the landscape fabric. One of the most popular types of landscaping materials is woven polypropylene, a fiber tightly woven together to create a durable, permeable sheet.

This landscaping fabric is ideal for weed control on large expanses of space and around trees and shrubs. The material features minuscule holes that allow water and nutrients to seep through the ground while also preventing weeds from growing and multiplying.

Some woven landscaping fabric materials are treated to block UV rays to boost durability. Non-woven landscaping fabric is made from either polyester or polypropylene. Non-woven landscaping fabric is often used for large-scale hardscaping.

This will add quality to a project with very little extra cost. Some contractors use fabric under planting beds whether they use rock or organic mulches. Others use it only under rock mulch because they prefer to allow their organic mulches to decompose freely into the soil.

For those who prefer to use old mulch to build new soil, a shorter-term fabric is an option. In this case, the fabric is removed and replaced every few years to allow decomposed mulch to combine with soil. No matter what kind of mulch is used, installing landscape fabric underneath can significantly reduce the amount of mulching material needed.

Fabric keeps mulch from compacting into the soil and also makes it easier to move the material later—for example, if new plantings are added down the road. Generally, the heavier the fabric, the better it is at weed suppression. The mesh needs to be fine enough to block weed and grass growth but large enough to allow water and air to pass. It can also create a runoff problem in the bed that may erode soil or wash away mulch.

Manufacturers list permeability information in product specifications. But DeWitt says a simple home test can also give you the answers you need. You should also be able to breathe through it like you would through a dust mask. If you can breathe through it, so can the soil.

But, should you install the fabric if you haven't already? Personally, I discourage my clients from using landscape fabric. And I am not alone , check this out:. In my experience, here are the 6 reasons why landscapers feel this way:. In order to truly be healthy, soil needs to be crumbly and loose. Loose soil allows for nutrients, water and even air to reach down in the soil and help plants to grow. This is the type of soil where plants can spread their roots and grow without too much work. But get this, I've noticed that soil underneath the landscape fabric does not stay crumbly and loose.

Rather, the soil becomes hard and compact. Weeding is a nightmare. While the landscape fabric will reduce the number of weeds in your garden, it won't entirely get rid of them. The weeds that do manage to get through the fabric are usually horrible enmeshed with the fabric itself. After a year or two, you may end up with a bigger problem than you started with. This means it's very hard to remove the weeds. Often times, removing the weed entirely means ripping the landscape fabric. Here's the deal, landscape fabric contains petroleum and other chemicals.

Most gardening experts advise gardeners to avoid using petroleum products or products with chemicals around plants. This is especially true for those plants that are edible. Then there is the cost of installing the fabric, cutting out each hole for plants, this takes a considerable amount of time. Furthermore, in order to properly install the fabric, you need pins to hold the fabric down. This further increases the cost. It gets worse , it may be necessary to patch the fabric or install additional pins throughout the year.

Gardeners are known for changing their minds. One season you may want a new plant in a certain place. This may change from year to year. As plants grow, they will need to be divided in order to keep the original plant healthy. Both of these tasks become incredibly difficult when landscaping fabric is present.

Long story short , changing location and dividing plants become a time consuming chore, and you will likely up-heave much of the landscape fabric in the process.