Landscape Fabric Guide: Pros and Cons of Landscaping Fabric

Landscape fabric is a solid sheet made of synthetic or recyclable materials that gardeners and landscapers use as ground cover on different types of terrain to control weeds. Gardeners can lay landscape fabrics around gardens and plants to stop weeds or cover rocky areas. There are two types of landscape fabrics: woven and non-woven. Pocked with tiny holes, woven landscape fabric allows water to soak through and condition the soil. On the other hand, the durable, semi-permeable materials of non-woven landscape fabrics can protect rock gardens from weeds and most water leakage.

The main purpose of landscape fabrics is to stop weed growth. You can place woven landscape fabric between rows of plants in a nursery to prevent weeds from growing around your flower beds. Non-woven landscape fabrics work best for permanent spaces, such as rock gardens or shrub gardens, protecting them from weeds and the elements with its durable, semi-permeable material.

There are two main types of landscape fabrics: woven and non-woven.

With woven landscape fabrics, individual strands of linen or polypropylene are woven together. These tend to last longer than non-woven landscape fabrics because they are more tightly entwined. This type of fabric is ideal for covering garden beds, shrubs, and trees because of the tiny holes in the material that allow water and nutrients to flow through onto the soil. Learn more about linen fabric.

Made of polypropylene or polyester, non-woven landscape fabrics work best for rock gardens because the material mostly prevents water and air from seeping through onto the rocks.

Understanding landscaping fabrics’ pros and cons can help you decide if it’s beneficial to install one on your lawn or in your garden. Here are a few advantages of landscaping fabrics:

1. 1. Weed control: Landscaping fabric is a chemical-free method of reducing weed growth. Instead of using herbicides, you can use landscape fabric as a weed barrier to stop unwanted weeds from sprouting. While landscape fabrics don’t stop all weeds from growing, they can help limit the number of weeds that sprout and reduce the frequency of manual weeding.
2. 2. Soil health: Landscape fabrics can help maintain your soil health by controlling the temperature in your garden. In the summertime, landscape fabrics help keep the soil cool, and in the wintertime, landscape fabrics help keep the soil warm. Landscape fabrics also help retain soil moisture by reducing water evaporation from the sun.
   
3. 3. Erosion control: Adding landscape fabric to a slope or hilly area can help prevent erosion because they act as a barrier during heavy rain, limiting washouts.

There are a few disadvantages to adding a landscape fabric to your garden or lawn, including:

1. 1. Lack of soil aeration: Landscape fabrics can reduce air filtration in your soil. Earthworms play an important role in aerating soil, and landscape fabrics prevent them from accessing the soil’s surface, which is paramount to their survival. Without earthworms, air filtration and nutrient cycling can decrease, resulting in compact soil, which can stunt root growth.
2. 2. Prevents reseeding: While landscaping fabrics prevent weed seeds from spreading, they also prevent plants that naturally reseed from growing. If your garden bed relies on flowers to naturally reseed, then consider alternative forms of weed control.
3. 3. Decrease in organic matter: Like earthworms, organic matter, such as fallen leaves, also impart nutrients into the soil. Areas with organic mulch or wood chips are not well-suited for landscaping fabrics, as the mulching can clog the landscape fabric and prevent water drainage. The clog results in a decrease in the amount of organic materials that can reach the soil, which can deplete its nutrients and inhibit plant growth.
4. 4. Extra maintenance: For areas that require consistent lawn care, using landscape fabrics can be harmful. In annual or vegetable gardens, where gardeners have to dig up the soil at the end of each season, landscape fabrics can get in the way of maintenance.

Landscaping fabrics suit a variety of different landscape designs. Landscapers can line perennial beds with landscape fabrics to create a weed block or place them underneath stone pavers to stabilize the soil. Here’s a step-by-step tutorial on how to install landscape fabric:

1. 1. Prepare the site. Using a garden hoe, remove the vegetation in the area, including all of the weeds, leaves, grass, and plants.
2. 2. Prepare the soil. Remove any rocks or other sharp objects in the area that could rip the fabric. Using a garden rake or your hands, flatten out the soil. If there are any remaining plant roots, pull them out.
3. 3. Lay the landscape fabric. Lay the landscaping fabric down flat. Using scissors or a knife, trim the excess fabric so it fits your desired area.
4. 4. Secure the fabric. Using landscape fabric staples, secure the fabric to the ground. Spread the staples out evenly across the edges of the fabric. Fix the staples in the ground with a hammer so they hold the top of the fabric in place.

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