subject: Landscaping Fabric - Why It's Bad For Your Garden [print this page] Landscaping Fabric - Why It's Bad For Your Garden
Landscaping fabric is considered part of our mulch because it is often placed on the soil under various mulch types in order to help control weeds. The cheap stuff doesn't work very well, but thicker fabric can work for awhile before weeds start to find their way through the cracks or just start on top of the mulch.
Unfortunately, that thick landscaping fabric can also stop water from getting down to the soil, especially on a slope where the water just slides down the fabric to the bottom. It doesn't take long for the landscape to show signs of suffering in this case.
But the biggest problem with this fabric is that it doesn't allow organic matter to recycle into the soil. When you put landscaping fabric on, it means your soil doesn't get to eat anymore. This is definitely not the best mulch for organic gardening purposes.
Soil needs to be consistently replenished with organic matter, so any of the mulch types we choose have to be composed of organic matter.
Soil is replenished in nature and in our gardens when leaves fall in autumn, and since many of our gardens are low in organic matter anyway, it also happens when we intentionally bring in more leaves, straw, compost and other organic matter to improve the soil.
Putting landscaping fabric in the garden stops all of this and slowly kills the fertility and structure of the soil, and everything living in it. The only potential use is on pathways, since we are compacting them anyway and not trying to increase the organic matter. But we need to look elsewhere for the best mulch.
Why Mulch Your Garden With Organic Matter?
Weeds. A continuous thick, dense layer of 2"-4" of one of the best mulch types is one of my favorite ways to control weeds because not only does it smother most of them out, it makes the ones that do find their way through so much easier to pull, especially if you have been clever enough to regularly hit the garden (and the mulch) with some water.
We have other organic gardening chores to do, so eliminating most of the weeds is a good goal. It may be necessary to kill some tap-rooted or perennial weeds before placing the mulch on top of them.
In addition, maintaining a dense, multi-layer plant cover on your soil consisting of a groundcover below and flowers, shrubs and trees above will stop most weeds from growing.
But the reason organic matter is that best mulch is that it provides a huge number of benefits to your garden. In fact, t is one of the most important things you can do. If you use an appropriate kind of mulch (we'll get to what is "appropriate" soon), here are the other main benefits:
Soil Health. The best mulch types are persistently and continuously working to improve the health of the soil. They are being broken down by microbes and increasing the organic matter content of the soil. Organic matter is an incredibly important part of the soil. It improves soil structure, and as it is broken down, its nutrients are releasing into the soil, making it one of the only mulch types that improves fertility. It prevents compaction from us walking in the garden and erosion from the wind or gravity on steep slopes. It also moderates the soil temperature, which is good for anything (plant, animal and microbe) living there.
Water. Organic matter is the best mulch because it is broken down into humus, which has an incredible ability to hold onto lots of water. But even before it is broken down, mulch holds a lot of water on its own and allows it to more slowly infiltrate into the soil.
It also reduces compaction (and leaching of nutrients) caused by a heavy rain, and erosion that happens when a lot of rain falls and there is runoff. Conversely, when the sun is shining, it also prevents evaporation from the soil surface.
So the best mulch actually improves the biodiversity of your entire soil ecosystem by giving all manner of critters a place to live, food to eat and water to drink. It even looks good in the organic garden if one of the right mulch types is used.
