For flower growers aiming to reduce time spent weeding (and/or the use of weed-killer), laying down plastic landscape fabric may seem like a perfect solution. Do you love it or loathe it?

The lovers use it

as an underlay for paths, with for example bark or gravel on the surface. The fabric prevents the gravel or bark from sinking into the soil below. It also (apparently) discourages weed growth by reducing light to the weed seeds in the soil.
as cover on flower beds, with holes cut into it for the plants to grow through. The aim is to reduce weed growth between the individual plants.

The loathers

dislike introducing plastic ( basically made from oil) into the garden.
dislike its appearance in flower beds (It can be covered with aesthetically pleasing bark mulch, but that rather defeats the purpose. The pieces of bark break down, of course, to produce a fine, high-quality seed bed, just ready for incoming weed seeds)
find that it disintegrates (rather than degrades) leaving frayed edges and plastic strands around the garden that wrap around your rake. I even found that our local sparrow population had picked up stray plastic strands to make their nests. (Ugh!)
find that it encourages mice and voles, effectively giving them covered walkways, where prey, like owls, cannot reach them.
realise that it takes cash from the ‘plants’ budget.
find that it becomes invaded by canny perennial weeds, like couch grass, whose pointed new shoots can pierce the woven fabric, after which they can romp away with little competition.

*Plastic landscape fabric infested with nettle roots*

You will probably have guessed that I am in the latter category, but in addition to the niggles listed above, I believe that using landscape fabric has another major disadvantage for the flower grower, in that it has a detrimental effect on the fertility of soil below. Of course, my ideas are only a theory, but let me, at least, explain my logic. It is the premise of the organic gardener that healthy soil produces healthy crops. The soil is a complex ecosystem, with millions of living, breathing microorganisms in each cubic centimetre. It is these microscopic species that maintain soil fertility as they continually break down organic matter to small simple compounds, that can be readily taken up by plant roots. Like you and me, these precious soil microorganisms need oxygen, from air, to live. So it follows that if we cover much of the surface of the soil with impermeable plastic, the gaseous exchange between the atmosphere above and the soil below, will be reduced. As shown in my sketch below, reduced oxygen in the soil will eventually lead to a depleted population of microorganisms, limiting the availability of plant nutrients and thereby resulting in reduced plant growth. Remember also that plant roots, themselves, are living structures, requiring oxygen to grow, and by laying down landscape fabric we risk starving them also of crucial nutrients. The gardeners friend too, the humble earthworm needs to come to the surface to find food in the form of dead organic matter, particularly in wet weather. Lets not suffocate or starve our wiggly friends!

In conclusion, I realise that some flower growers love plastic landscape fabric, but for me, I absolutely loathe the stuff!

Happy flower growing, Bridget.

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Landscape fabric - Love it or Loathe it?