A frustrated gardener posted on Facebook to vent about her landscaping fabric woes.
“Do you like using landscape fabric?” the woman’s post began. “I hate, hate, hate it.”
Do you like using landscape fabric? I hate, hate, hate it. It may help prevent some weeds. But it also doesn’t allow you…
Posted by Cindy Capella on Thursday 13 June 2024
The aggrieved user noted that “it may help to prevent some weeds,” but it has further issues.
“It also doesn’t allow you to dig to plant new flowers, dig up weeds, and it chokes other plants,” she said. “Our iris [plants] haven’t bloomed for the last two years.”
They explained that they had spent several hours that day removing landscape fabric from an area of about 10 square feet. They were understandably chagrined.
She was not alone in her aversion to this material. Master gardener Robert Pavlis warned about this controversial product on the website Garbage is Complicated.
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“If you’re considering landscape fabric for your yard or garden, save your dollars and save yourself from the inevitable headache and backache when you too decide to rip it out,” he said.
Pavlis went on to explain that landscape fabric doesn’t really prevent weeds, and it contaminates soil with microplastics and petrochemicals.
Additionally, its impermeability decreases the quality of the soil and makes planting and replanting challenging. And, as the original poster experienced, it’s horrible to remove.
In other words, landscape fabric is a massive waste of money, and some experts have gone so far as to call it “a scam.”
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Better alternatives include natural approaches like “slash mulching” — cutting what’s already growing and then leaving the debris on the ground to prevent weeds — or simply planting a native garden, which thrives far more easily and independently.
Native gardens and natural lawns are a huge money-saver because they usually require less water. Additionally, they provide a nourishing haven for pollinators, which in turn keeps the ecosystem healthy and protects the food supply.
Facebook commenters shared the woman’s aversion to landscape fabric.
“I also hate landscape fabric, for the reasons you state,” one person replied. “Also, the wind blows weed seeds that land atop the soil and mulch on the fabric.”
“Never used it but have removed plenty,” another said, emphasizing the removal headache that is landscape fabric’s most enduring trait.
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