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Did I mess up by putting down landscape fabric

17 years ago

This spring when I was defining a new bed I put down landscape fabric (the cheap kind from Lowes) and then a good layer of pine straw on top. Since I don't have a lot of plants (yet) I like the look of pine straw but didn't want every blade of grass coming up (I sprayed roundup first).

Now that I am planting perrenials in this bed, I'm wondering if I messed up. I haven't had a problem planting...I just cut a slit/X in the fabric. But will the fabric prevent reseeding (volunteers) or stolons from spreading?

Still learning...

Comments (5)

  • 17 years ago

    The landscape fabric will probably prevent reseeding( I personally think that pine straw prevents alot of reseeding as well compared to using bark mulches) The stolons will attempt to spread and you will have to cut the fabric back to give the plants room to come up. I have used lf with bark mulch and found that weeds will germinate on top and grow through it down to the ground eventually. Bermuda grass if you are unlucky enough to have it will travel under it and come up from any seam or weak spot. My advice is to pull it up while it's still easy to do and put down layers of newspaper instead- at least until the dead grass has decomposed into the soil. Until then you will have to clear any ground you would like to have reseeding take place in.

  • 17 years ago

    I agree with Shari, I'd remove it and use paper which degrades in time. By then your weeds will be dead. The fabric will persist long after you need or want it. -Ais.

  • 17 years ago

    Pine straw DOES inhibit the germination of many kinds of seed. As a matter of fact, it shouldn't be used in a vegetable garden for that very reason. ;-)

    Landscape fabric is baaaad stuff.

  • 17 years ago

    I really don't like any of that stuff.
    We moved into our little house about a year ago, and I immediately started pulling up the landscape PLASTIC they put around the trees. Is this common material for landscaping? I've never seen anything like it. When I would dig a hole to plant something, I would find more plastic, and directly underneath the plastic, there was this web of roots at least 2 inches thick, and underneath that, construction fill dirt, that yellow stuff that's good for nothing. The house has been here five years, but there's been no natural composting going on (and our yard has a lot of hardwoods) and some of the trees don't look very healthy.
    So we've dumped a truckload of horse manure in the front yard, and we're looking forward to a more lively yard next year.

  • 17 years ago

    I use the cheap kind of landscape fabric, the brown one that breaks down in about a weekend if left exposed to the sun. I cover it with about an inch of fine pine park mulch. Any deeper and too many weeds take hold in the mulch, so I keep the mulch layer thin. I still get a few weeds but not that many. In my veggie garden I use the more plastic kinda barrier and I cover it with a deep layer of straw (not pine straw). It breaks down over the summer. When I pull the plastic out of the garden I just mix in all the rotted straw.

    Lasagna layers work great but I get the landscape fabric at a discount (sometimes free), same with the straw. The only thing I have to buy is the pine bark mulch.

    I still have to weed but not that much. I do have Bermuda grass/Wire grass in my yard (the most evil thing on the planet) but it is easy to keep under control by keeping an area of soft fluffy soil at the edge of all my flower beds and garden. All the weeds are easy to pull from that fluffy area and they rarely make it all the way to the bed. This does mean that I have to sit outside and feed the mosquitos every evening but it is better for you than sitting inside watching tv.