Landscape Fabric, Good vs. Bad

Negative as it seems, my husband and I made a big expensive mistake last year with landscape fabric. Since we were starting a new garden at our new house, we chose to use landscape fabric and edging that is “stated” to be used by professional gardeners. After researching some sites, we found multiple statements by professional landscape artists that live by the stuff. Little did we know though that landscape artists usually do not get his/her hands dirty but rather plan the design of the garden. Then, the landscape artist will hire help to do the hard work of planting and taking care of the designed garden.

This year we found out the mistake that had taken place last year. It all started with a trip to a local home improvement store, which we tend to spend most of our weekends pursuing the shopping lanes with excitement in our eyes. Suggestion from the wise, always make a list before going to a home improvement center. If a list is not made, many more purchases are made than what was needed. These stores do a wonderful job promoting and selling the merchandise to excited individuals — it is like a toy store for my husband. So, anyways, we found out that landscape fabric can be purchased in many brands that are constructed of two materials: plastic and fabric. We chose the landscape fabric since it is recommended to give the roots room to breath, get a little extra moisture, and so on. Using plastic does not allow anything to get to the soil however can be easily damaged unlike the more durable fabric style. Then, after the expensive trip to the store, we engaged in a full weekend of placing this fabric inside our garden beds. There were two sides of our garden that were lined with shrubs; therefore we were unable to cover those locations. Everything else was covered with the fabric and edging to make a clean edge to the garden.

Near the end of last season, we found that weeds were growing on top of the fabric. We thought it was nothing since there was a minimal amount that needed to be weeded. The amount compared to if the fabric was placed down seemed like a great difference. Therefore we were satisfied. This season, as the snow melted in our Midwestern state, we found that all the weeds were popping up through the fabric. We were bewildered! We took the precautions with placing the package suggested amount of hooks into the ground to assure that no weeds would come up for a few years. They did not work though as we now have tons of weeds coming through the sides and also in the centers of the fabric locations. So, we decided just to get rid of the fabric and use the age old technique of tilling. Then, another problem arose — the weeds had grown to wrap around the fabric. It was a big mess to clear out the weeds and fabric without pulling up our plants in the process.

Living and learning is a total process and something that everyone should endure. From two avid gardeners though, we suggest that fabric be a last resort as it does not work properly. Even after following the instructions, we have noticed that the benefits were not as suggested and we wasted our money. I’m sure there are more critics out there that love the material however we will steer clear of it from now on. Our fabric budget will now go to more flowers.