Ok to use fabric weed blocker in garden?

15 years ago

Hi. I am new. I am wondering if you could use old sheets or other types of fabrics to block weeds. Would it work? Would it last? I am not a gardener but am trying!

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Comments (2)

eatsivy
15 years ago
Hi hayleybritt and welcome, I'm not one who likes to use weed barrier liners. In my experience, they make more work than they save.

You could give old sheets or other fabrics a try, but my feeling is that you would be better served not using them. In time soil blows into any mulch you may have used on top of the fabric - then weed seeds can geminate in that soil/growing medium. The edges of weed barrier can "float" up over the course of a couple of seasons and then you have all this fabric sticking up all over the place. When you go to dig in the area (move a shrub or install a new planting) you end up pulling the fabric up here and there and it can turn into a mess.

I guess I prefer to not have a layer of fabric in my soil - it gets in the way of things and often ends up looking bad. If I were going to use a weed barrier I'd want to use something durable - I think old sheets will degrade pretty rapidly and then you will be stuck trying to dig it all out to clean up the mess.

Those are a few of my thoughts on the matter. Perhaps others who like to use weed barrier fabrics in their garden beds will chime in with some other opinions.

Have fun, Chris

Here is a link that might be useful: a link I found from a gardener who recommends against using weed barrier fabrics
fountaam
15 years ago
Others have posted that they used old sheets. I'd make sure that they were washed again with no fabric softner. I'd also only use them as either the very bottom of a new raised bed - with over a foot of depth, or under my tomatoes, and then I'd punch some more holes in the fabric, just in case.

If you were thinking of using it around bushes - or other longterm plantings - it would be better for the plants if you just used more mulch. Earthworms need to be able to surface to live in a soil area, and they can't surface through a sheet.
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If you live in Cincinnati, you are no longer zone 5. It's considered zone 6 now. I'm across the river in NKY and had the same problem. I put down landscape fabric on mine the first year because there was no way I was digging out that grass. It helped a lot but didn't work as well as I'd hoped and by the next Summer I was dividing and moving things so it got ripped out in the process. Not aware of any soil issues caused the year it was down. I will do anything in my power to prevent having to weed. I would put the fabric down, mulch over it and just deal with what comes through this year. Next year pull it out early-mid April and put down Preen. I'm so happy with Preen I could do a commercial for them. Other than the occasional dandelion or thistle right next to the foundation - I never see weeds or grass in that bed anymore.
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Ok to use fabric weed blocker in garden?

Comments (2)

eatsivy

fountaam

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