Agree with ken - I have ripped it out wherever I could. At some point later you will wish you had not put it down. I do. Link below.

Paul

Here is a link that might be useful: landscape fabric

Let me first say that in 2007, I was asking questions about landscape fabric too.
I was encouraged to not use it and even to pull up the 100 yards or so of it that I'd just put down. I didn't initially take up all that crap, but the next year, I did.
I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why it is suggested SOOO much in these television landscape shows.... unless the manufacturers are sponsors.
The ONLY time I have used anything like it was under my daughter's play set....or, in a rock bed where I plan on planting nothing.
And by my own experience, I can say that I do believe that it'll upset the earthworm population. Earthworms live on organic matter. Organic matter requires oxygen.
I have areas all around my house that were "landscaped" by the previous owners. They put down landscape fabric/plastic with 6-8" of rock on top of it. I have had need to pierce this fabric to plant a shrub. There were NO earthworms present... and I have earthworms in every other part of my landscape.

hey mel .... said two things [with my reply right after ====>>>>]:

I didn't initially take up all that crap, but the next year, I did. ===>>> i really try not to make this stuff up .... lol ... so i suppose you are offering.. "do as i say.. not as i did" .. lol ... i too had to pick up a billion stones by hand and remove it and the fabric ... zowweee

I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why it is suggested SOOO much in these television landscape shows ====>>> because it is a high profit item from a garden company who sponsors the garden shows you favor?????

it took me a long time to un-learn everything i learned on victory garden type shows .. and all those glossy mags.. and tv shows ... everything has its place..

e.g. double digging and amending a new planting bed .... under a tree.. its just so wrong .... out near the barn.. in the sun.. a different story ... when a show tries to shotgun a topic.. or you dont know enough to understand the specific application.. things can go so wrong ....

but frankly.. never.. ever .. found out where the fabric myth was a positive ...

ken

Removing stone and landscape fabric is what I'll be doing this spring (previous owners put this crud down, go figure). After I remove the stone, I have no idea what to do with it, I don't want it. It compacts the soil, and the fabric doesn't prevent the weeds from growing anyway. My plants will be happier after it's done, but I dread the task.

Karen

I'm removing some more rock and landscape fabric this spring. It is NOT a fun time in the garden. As Ken said, hardwood mulch. You really do not want that c*** in your yard. It's a nightmare... both trying to keep the weeds out of it and trying to remove it after you realize your mistake.

tepelus.... try giving away the rock on Freecycle.org
Wanna-be landscapers grab the stuff up like crazy! And with freecycle, THEY come and get it!

Landscape fabric is SATAN. Have removed previous owner's fabric everywhere I've lived/gardened. Can't fathom why one would install it. I have nothing to add to what's already been said, other than shredded leaves make a nice mulch as well.
Gayle

I use the fabric underneath stone areas where little or nothing will be planted and where I can use roundup to control the weeds. If you are only planting a few shrubs and then using stone around those, sure, you can get away with landscape fabric. It does keep the stone from sinking into oblivion. Use roundup to spot spray weeds. I like the look of stone in the right situation, but would not use it in a perennial garden or a hosta garden.

Years ago when I did landscaping I would have customers demand the fabric, often times buy it for us, and I would explain why I wouldn't want to use it. I didn't always win the battle, but very often would be asked to rip it up later. Newspaper can help early on, and will degrade later, but nobody reads the paper anymore... Anyway, I would often get other landscapers coming around to see my work and ask why I wasn't putting down fabric. I told them it didn't work and was a waste of money, and the reply was always "Sure, but don't you realize how much you can charge to put that stuff down?"

If you are worried about soil structure/worms/aeration, then don't use the fabric.

Worms die under landscape fabric....weeds live in and on top of it...
My very anal neighbor, before he moved away would every 3 years dig up the stones from on top of the fabr8ic and hose them off, dig our and soil that had sifted down on top of the fabric and replace the stones....I guess it was easier than weeding between thes tones.
My daughter moved into a house with fabric and stones over the top with hosta planted between. The hosta were too close together and too close to the shrubs and needed to be divided and moved.....the roots of the hosta had grown above, below and into the fabric....and both she and I nearly killed ourselves making things look good. And that damned fabric got cut out!
If you haven't put it down....don't. If you have already laid it....pull it up!!
Linda C

OH, I forgot to mention something.
When the house behind me was vacant, I tried to weed the "garden" adjacent to my property line.
THere was a CANADIAN THISTLE that had GROWN THRU 3 layers of commercial landscape fabric... it had something like a 1" stalk!
By all means, weeds do grow thru it. As does grass.
Sometimes weeds grow up thru it from below, sometimes they grow down thru it from above. And grass will creep under edging and grow up thru the areas where fabric meets edging AND where you use the stakes or staples to hold down the fabric AND where the fabric overlaps.

Like was said....SATAN!

There is no nightmare worse than the ordeal of trying to remove the fabric from an established perennial bed. It amazed me how perfectly plants, AND WEEDS, could knit roots into the fabric.

Calling this stuff Satan is an insult to Satan.

Landscape Fabric has it's purposes... However none of those are in the flowerbed.

It works wonders in my wet/dry creekbed, we placed in underneath & put our rock over it, looks really nice (And lets me grow only what I WANT to, cos it's really hard to pull from thick rock)

And I helped with a project at our local wildlife sanctuary using cloth to help check marsh salinity...

But agreed, I would never use it in my beds, doesn't make sense.

It does have some redeeming qualities...

It keeps out weeds, cats and squirrels from messing with our tomatoes. The sun "eats" it in just one season, so we put down new fabric every year when we put in the tomatoes.

I use scraps of it to cover the drain holes in my hanging plants. It keeps slugs and other bugs out, yet lets water flow through.

-Babka

{{gwi:959229}}

I too fell for the landscape fabric trick to keep the weeds down. They say water will penetrate it, but it doesn't. It just runs off. I agree with all of the above. I have removed most all of what I had put down in garden beds. The only place it has worked for me it under my flagstone patio. Here it keeps weeds out and when I do get a couple they are easy to pull out because there really isn't anywhere for them to root.

Chuckle.

I ripped my landscape fabric out too. I only use it when installing pavers, otherwise, it's useless around plants.

Weeds grew in the mulch I had on top of the fabric. Complete waste of time and money. I'm still ripping out pieces here and there years later. I was a newbie, what can I say.

I do not use it with plants. But there are projects in the yard for which it is well suited for :
1. I made simple shade frames with it to protect plants the first year against the burning sun. Shade cloth was much more expensive than that fabric, though I had to cut a few holes into it, so it did not act like a sail in wind.
2. I also used a roll of it to reinforce a berm to stop drain water from outside my property washing away several just planted hostas.
3. I rebuilt my three compost bins which in the past had tree roots grow into the compost. This time, after leveling and chopping off any roots, I first put down two layers of fabric, then placed red concrete pavers on top of the fabric. That should work very well to keep the compost for my plants, and looks really good.
Bernd

Bernd...
Won't the fabric also prevent worms from coming up into your compost?

Melissa,
yes, worms will not make it through the fabric and the pavers, but bacteria, fungi and other beneficial organism picked up with chopped leaves and other waste will make it to compost it. The worms then will finish the job after the compost is put to use on and in the soil. But I got rid hopefully of the roots.
Bernd

Concern for worms and robins is why I have the same question. Is there a ground cover that can prevent weeds but allow worms to live? Is there a viable solution?. i am too old to pull all of the weeds.(back issues)

Do the worms ever come back?

Does bark help with weeds?

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Also cannot keep up with weeds due to back issues.

Mulch will keep the weeds out. I use it under my pecan tree where nothing will grow except weeds (too much shade). You have to refresh it every year, as it deteriorates.

I put my hosta there on pavers with pot feet under them for drainage.

bk