WEEDLESS Gardening

(Page 6 of 6)

August/September 2001
Lee Reich 
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Geotextiles, synthetic fabrics resistant to tearing with many small holes that allow air and water to penetrate the soil, have been offered as an alternative to black plastic. Both black plastic and geotextiles are widely used by farmers, gardeners, and landscapers.

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If you don't like the way these synthetic mulches look, you can cover them. Wood chips are widely used for this purpose.

Geotextiles need a thin cover of something to shade out the minimal light that makes its way though the tiny holes.

But problems arise again. If you cover an area with black plastic or geotextiles and expect to do nothing more, you'll find that plenty of weeds eventually trot in, their roots growing into that cover of chips. In time, the chips or other covering start to move, exposing the plastic beneath - not a pretty sight!

Furthermore, even if black plastic or geotextiles don't do their jobs forever, they'll be in the soil that long, or almost so. If you try to make over the landscape in the future, you will be wrestling and cutting geotextiles or collecting scraps of black plastic. Embedding a permanent, synthetic blanket in the ground shows a fundamental disrespect for the soil.

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