Advice on landscape fabric

[scott784]

Back in the Fall, I planted shrubs in the front of my house and used (I thought) a liberal amount of cedar mulch. Still the existing lawn that used to go all the way up to the foundation of my home seemed like it was going to have it's way! In other words, I started noticing shoots of fescue grass popping up in the mulch; and, of course, we're not even in growing season right now.

So that being said, I decided to go back and temporarily rake back all the mulch (away from my newly planted shrubs) and I laid down landscape fabric. Now, I've read the pros and cons of using this material in a shrub bed. But I was willing to go for it given the amount of leftover grass roots that were popping up in my shrub bed and looking unsightly! So now the mulch is back in place, on top of the landscape fabric.

My question is, how big of a diameter should each shrub or bush have from this landscape material? In other words, is there any rule of thumb (so to speak) in order to help young bushes perform at their best? I don't want grass or weeds in the shrub bed, but I also want to ensure these newly planted shrubs will thrive. And so, I am willing to go back in and cut larger circles of landscape cloth away from the base of each shrub if necessary. My thought process is any amount of grass will not survive (at least not under the small canopy of the actual bush.

Thanks for any thoughts/feedback.

 

[Marck]

I presume by landscape cloth you mean a plastic material with fine mesh or holes to allow water to percolate through. If that is the case, the mesh can go fairly close to the trunk of a tree or shrub, though I would leave at least a few inches of space.

If you mean a plastic sheet impervious to water, I would take it up. The soil underneath will deteriorate with out access to water and at least some leachate from organic matter matter.

In truth, I recommend using several layers of overlapping cardboard as a weed block. This can be disguised with an over-layer of woodchips or bark for aesthetic reasons. By the time the cardboard deteriorates the grass should be mostly gone. Will some weeds still find a way through? Yes, and the same is true of the plastic weedcloth. However, this way you don't have a layer of plastic in the ground that will remain even after it loses functionality. Also, even porous weed cloth will partly block the full interaction between the mulch and lower soil layers that is essential for a healthy soil.

I'm against complete eradication of the plants we dismiss as weeds, though I do acknowledge that they may need to be controlled in both amount and type in some circumstances. These plants have a lot of ecological roles to fill, including adding to the organic matter and friability of soil by sending their roots down into the ground.

Right now the wood chip paths in my garden are rich with seedlings (Eschscholzia californica, Lathyrus odoratus 'Cupani', Lupinus pilosus, Nigella damascena, etc.) I couldn't be happier.To some extent you can pick your weeds, and when you do, rechristen them as wildflowers. Perhaps it would be ideal for them all to be native plants, but such perfectionism is the enemy of the good, especially in cultivated land that sees plants from all corners of the earth. At some point I do curtail 'weeds' that become overly successful. And there are a few like Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) that are completely planta non grata.

 

[scott784]

It is basic landscape fabric that was purchased from Lowe's, made of some type of black synthetic material. It's a barrier that allows air and water penetration. I know one of the "cons" of using such material is the prevention of worms interacting with the soil, which we know is so good for soil enrichment. But at the same time, the established grass making its way through my mulch was really unsightly looking in the new shrub bed.

I am thinking this landscape fabric material will eventually decompose over time. I just wanted something to kill off the established grass roots underneath the mulch. Some of the landscape fabric is (perhaps) a bit closer to the shrub stems than I would like. But I can easily use my scissors and ensure that I've got it a few inches off the stems of the bushes.

I do want to ensure the new bushes thrive while having an attractive look without grass and/or weeds growing up in the new shrub bed.