The Hidden Problems With Landscape Fabric in Garden Beds
- yakisnoltd
- Oct 2
- 2 min read
At first glance, landscape fabric seems like the perfect answer to weed problems. Roll it out, cover it with mulch, and you’re set… right? Unfortunately, putting landscape fabric under mulch almost always backfires. Instead of making your garden beds easier to maintain, it creates more weeds, worse soil, and extra work down the road.
Why Landscape Fabric Under Mulch Doesn’t Work
Weeds Still Grow on Top
As mulch breaks down, it forms a layer of compost-like material above the fabric. Weed seeds love this layer and sprout readily. Because their roots weave through the mulch, pulling them out often tears the fabric and makes maintenance harder.
Landscape Fabric Harms Soil Health
Healthy soil needs air, water, and organic matter. Fabric cuts off this natural exchange, suffocating earthworms and microbes that keep soil loose and fertile. Over time, soil under fabric becomes compacted and depleted, stressing your plants.
Mulch Slides on Fabric
Mulch tends to shift on top of fabric instead of settling into the soil. This leads to bare patches where weeds can sneak through and the fabric itself becomes exposed.
Landscape Fabric Becomes a Maintenance Headache
After a few years, fabric tears, pokes through, and turns into a tangled mess mixed with roots and soil. Removing it is a frustrating, labor-intensive job.
Why Landscape Fabric Around Plants Causes Problems
Some gardeners try to cut holes in the fabric to plant shrubs, perennials, or flowers. This creates another problem: as the plant grows, the hole often becomes too tight. The fabric can girdle the base of the plant, restricting water and air, and sometimes even damaging bark or stems.
Landscape fabric is especially harmful for evergreens and groundcover-type plants (like junipers, pachysandra, or spreading shrubs). These plants naturally grow roots close to the surface and spread outward. With fabric in place, their roots often grow into the fabric itself, becoming trapped. Over time, this weakens the plant and makes it nearly impossible to remove the fabric without tearing up the root system.
When to Use Landscape Fabric
Landscape fabric does have a role – just not under mulch or around living plants. Its best use is under stone, gravel, or rock landscaping, where mulch won’t be breaking down on top of it. In these cases, fabric helps keep stones from sinking into the soil and reduces weeds from below.
Cardboard: The Best Alternative to Landscape Fabric
Instead of fabric, gardeners can use cardboard as a biodegradable weed barrier.
Smothers Weeds Naturally: Cardboard blocks sunlight and prevents existing weeds from regrowing.
Improves Soil Health: As it breaks down, cardboard feeds earthworms and microbes, enhancing soil life instead of suffocating it.
Simple and Affordable: Just overlap sheets, wet them down, and cover with mulch. By the time the cardboard decomposes, your mulch and soil life will usually keep weeds manageable.
Eco-Friendly Option: Cardboard is repurposed waste, and unlike synthetic fabric, it returns to the earth naturally.
If you’d like healthier beds, fewer weeds, and a landscape that thrives without the headaches of landscape fabric, our gardening team can help. We’ll design, mulch, and maintain your beds the right way – so you can enjoy a beautiful, low-maintenance garden all season long.
