Seed- and gardening specialist Barbara Schaefer wrote in her latest blog:
"When you buy an old property, you are full of ideas and visions of what it might have been, and what it could become under your care. My gardener’s brain was flooded with the possibilities. Gorgeous shrubs, lush peonies, irises, lilies, tulips, maybe a little tree. A vision of loveliness… I thought, with persistence and determination I can turn this garden into an oasis.
Lying in wait for me under thick layers of grass and weeds was landscape fabric in varying degrees of disintegration. If you have ever encountered this, then you know what’s coming: Slow and back-breaking work. The landscape fabric was steadfastly intertwined with both the weeds and the plant roots that I wanted to salvage."
Landscape Fabric — Use at Your Peril
"Originally developed for agricultural use in crop production as an alternative to herbicides, it is considered a ‘synthetic mulch’, a non-chemical weed control. With its great success in agriculture (think long rows of healthy vegetables poking through the black fabric), it attracted the attention of landscape designers.
Some thought it could be used as a non-biodegradable, permanent solution to weed control in vast landscape projects, allowing water and air to flow through, but not the sunlight, thereby preventing weed germination. Or so they thought…"
Five Reasons NOT to Use Landscape Fabric:
Read more: https://gardensbybarby.ca/evolution-of-a-garden/
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