The Great Barrier, Weeds!

Cheap! Cheap! Cheap! If the birds are singing out we love it; we also know it’s spelled cheep. Just being outside, working, we hear all sorts of cheeps. It’s invigorating. When we think about the other spelling – at the worst, a suggestion of inferior products or service, it’s infuriating.


Yet, time after time we run into cheap imitations, cheap options, aka “deals”. We can tell you: landscaping is hard work, whether you do it yourself or you have us do it. And because it is, you should not use or accept cheap products.
You read our blog article about “paper or plastic” already; it's an early posting. You know that plastic takes centuries to breakdown. Today, walking through the grocery store, with our reusable bags in our cart, it was astonishing how much of what is in the store, even what the store is constructed with, is plastic. Sometimes it seems a daunting task to tackle, protecting the earth. But each of us can avoid plastic in the garden. Plastic weed barrier keeps the water and oxygen out. First your soil is damage. Then your garden suffers. Leave the black plastic weed barrier on the shelf.

Instead, we use weed barrier fabric and gladly include it in our bids on your landscaping projects. We know it takes time to breakdown also – after all, it is a barrier. What it does allow is for the soil to breathe, to receive moisture and oxygen. There is less damage to the soil. Fabric is more earth-friendly, protecting your garden plants. We never put weed barrier under mulch, as mulch is organic and will decompose and would become soil on top of the weed barrier. We always use weed barrier under decorative rock. We use a pre-emergent weed control two or three times (spring-summer-fall) to help prevent weed seed germination, especially in mulch beds!

That said, keep in mind that weeds are plants also. Considering there are billions of weed seeds in the air at certain times of the year, no one can ever expect to install barrier and then never see a weed again. They will sprout up. What a great barrier, such as the Dewitt Pro 5 we use, does, is stop the seeds beneath it from emerging. Anyone who sits back and watches the mulch turn to soil will also be watching weeds sprout from seeds deposited above the barrier.

With the right barrier in place you will still be bending down or be on your knees to pluck the errant weed from your soil but you will do it less often. A good foundation is required in raising a house, raising a child, and raising a garden. Regardless, we all know that with each of these, tending needs to be done! We all roll up our sleeves and get on with it.