Never Weed Again! Our Landscape Fabric Explained

The number one thing I have been asked this year is "what is that black stuff." So here are all the landscape fabric questions answered! Never weed again with this great garden tool.

Amazon Links to Landscape Fabric (we get a small commision from these links)
This is for 4 foot wide fabric, we went for 5 feet to have overlap, but the price was good on this. They have 3 foot for a lot cheaper, but I think that would be too small for properly covering a garden bed.
Also
Landscape staples to pin it to the ground
Tiger Torch to burn holes in the fabric

My Canadian source for specialized market garden tools and the landscape fabric
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Ian and Serina of YOU CANT EAT THE GRASS feel that every small change can make a big difference to the world we live in. Every garden planted leads to a better future. We hope to inspire and motivate others to make positive changes in their lives by sharing our journey towards greater sustainability as we build our family farm. It's hard work to build a life worth living, and completely worth it!

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[Raynestorm]

I have tried to learn all I can about the pros and cons of weed barrier fabric. I have read hundreds of articles, and watched probably dozens of videos. Some of the things I have learned are:

#1 Most important! Get GOOD QUALITY weed barrier. The cheap felt crap you get from Walmart will not work. You need good quality "woven fabric" weed barrier.
#2 NEVER double the fabric layers!
#3 Try to burn holes that the size and spacing will work for numerous different kinds of plants/crops so you can do crop rotation if you want/need to without having to replace the weed barrier every year.
#4 Remove the weed barrier fabric at least every second or third year and till/fertilize/compost your garden like you normally would before putting the fabric back down.
#5 Do NOT put your watering system UNDER the weed fabric. There's too many things that can go wrong with a watering system and trying to track it down and repair it when your garden is in full growth will be impossible.
#6 If your garden is in a very hot sunny spot that gets very little shade throughout the day, you may want to use some garden netting or other method to provide shade while your plants are young and fragile.
#7 NEVER put/allow any kind of dirt, gravel, mulch, to accumulate or be put ON TOP of the weed barrier fabric. While putting mulch or gravel on top may look nicer, that is only giving weeds a medium to grow on top of your fabric.
#8 Cover unused holes or incidental holes or weeds WILL find those holes and take over.
#9 ALWAYS make sure your weed barrier fabric strips are overlapped by about 6 inches and secured well. If you are using landscape staples and have just tilled your garden plot, you will want to wait a few days after a rain to lay your fabric and give the staples something more solid to hold onto. And always use enough staples that there are no sections of your fabric that is not secured. Wind will get under it and rip it up, or weeds will find those spaces and grow sideways and out.

Hope some of this helps for first time users of the weed barrier fabric. As nice as it would be, it is not a system that requires NO work. You still have to pay attention and micro manage your garden. There's just a lot less weed pulling to take up all your time.

Happy gardening.

[jeanettejames]

I have a small 12x24 garden I put this on this year. I am totally loving it. Much of it I planted seed directly into the ground in my spacing holes. 3 rows of spinach, green beans, .. love it. I can mix stuff up even in that small space for rotation planting. First fun easy care garden in 50 years!

[Vinnie-cvqv]

I have a very large garden and use the landscape fabric in rows and leave an opening between two rows. I plant the heavy vine crops like all the melons. This will allow them to spread over the tarp and not the soil. It has worked really well for me. I also place the fabric in my paths. This eliminates the weeds. Where I have the fabric for planting crops, I lift the fabric and amend the soil once a year with compost and leaf mold. It keeps the soil fertile.

[ClearWater.]

Thanks for sharing. I never imagined to have pests laying eggs under the fabric. But i think amending the soil with diatomaceous earth before adding the fabric may help.

[jenniferprewitt]

The cat during the flower garden scene 👀😍

[PoliteChihuahua]

started to use landscape fabric this year, game changer.

[johnboggity]

Fantastic - thanks for sharing !!! I have not seen this topic explained so well.

[Ms.Byrd]

If you're using, say, Raised Beds and you burn the holes in accordance with _stated veggie spacing_ you can take your STANDARD plastic 'templates' up at the end of the season and reuse them in whatever bed you want to plant in with whatever other veggie that also requires that particular spacing. Also, you can REMOVE the plastic from -_in ground beds as well._ For those 'Homesteaders' that do have oversized lots or a couple to a few ACRES of usable land.

[hyeonsukjang]

I think I like your video.Gardening stories, voices, etc.
I'm always grateful.

[photodumper]

I was told to water early in the morning. If you water in the afternoon in colder climates, the water will sit all night and cause mold and other problems.

[marlenebennett]

We just put landscape fabric down on my whole garden area. We used a template to burn 5 " holes for the dahlias I raise. We used a small hand held propane torch to make the holes. Simple. We use a drip system for watering. It is on top of the landscape fabric. Each line has an on and off switch so you can regulate watering. The water system is on a timer. We have been warned not to put this under the landscape fabric as there could be a leak in the hose and that would be difficult to deal with. I'm glad to hear all the pros and cons. If the flowers are planted farther apart perhaps that would help the air flow. I do cut off all the leaves in my zucchinis that cross over to keep from getting mold started. It doesn't hurt the plant.

My neighbor leaves a two inch space between one piece of fabric and uses that space for beets or carrots.... other root plants.

I'll see how things go. Thanks for the great tutorial!

[carmenfisher]

You have done an absolutely wonderful video and service to us home gardeners. Thank you!!! We no till and currently use wood chips which makes it easy to reduce weeds and to pull the weeds that do appear. They seem to get nasty though, toward the end of the season. Your video is excellent!!! Thanks for taking the time to educate us.

[jonbilyou]

another great place to get fabric would be Vevor they are a great place....

[patriciarusso]

I have been thinking about how to design the front garden and of course need to consider whether to purchase landscape fabric or pine bark mulch or perhaps both. Newer landscape fabric has smaller holes so does not block air or water from circulating to shrubs, flowers, or groundcovers. Your tutorial was very interesting especially seeing your torch and learning that if you want holes enlarged the fabric has to be burned. Your garden is thriving very well & thanks for the video.

[MariaPetrovaNYC]

Thank you, very helpful, esp around fungal issues. I'll stick with mulch for my small plot 🙏

[ben-fezy]

I use it, but most of my crops fail with landscape fabric because it offers a great habitat for slugs and cover for rodent-tunnels. Anything resistant to these, and it's great!

[suddenlyfarming]

Beautiful garden! For sure lots of hardworks..but it is paid off when we see the result.

[Eli-qrhc]

I am planting a flower bed with trees and shrubs over my Bermuda grass, but it’s difficult to find landscape fabric that keeps the weeds out, but also allows water to penetrate through it to the ground for my plants

[jcooter]

You’ve addressed some of my concerns for sure! I want to do a no till method but the first year having clay ground I have to till and cover a time or two for the next month or so until planting time but don’t want to fight the germinating weeds this summer being a new garden plot that was once a cow pasture full of grass and weed so It’s currently covered with plastic and going to till in a weeks time then re cover and till a few more weeks out before laying weed barrier and drip tape and do a cover crop this coming fall/winter in hopes of starting the No till method and having a clear plot next year. Thoughts or suggestions?

[ardeet.]

thank you so much! you give me so much information. excellent video!!