Landscaping

» Georgene A. Bramlage - Landscapers Cloth and the Garden

Dear Ed,

As promised I've taken the time to give careful thought to your questions, as well as write two articles: Landscape Fabric Pros and Cons and Landscape Fabric Projects to answer them in full

I can see the use of the cloth if I'm going to have an area (let's say 10x20 ft) covered with bark or stone mulch. The cloth should keep most of the weeds from coming up and the mulch should protect the cloth, a symbiotic relationship. In addition, I can cut out little areas to put in blooming plants.

Yes...although I would not call this a "symbiotic relationship" this is the best use of such cloth. And as you can read in both Bob and Barbara's comments, weeds will out wherever they find a break in the cloth even around your landscape plants. So, vigilance is necessary to keep the area clean from weeds coming from the soil and weeds germinating from seeds atop the mulch.

Now what about an area where I want groundcover plants to spread. Wouldn't the cloth keep the plants from rooting and restrict the spread to the area where the cloth isn't?

There are plants classified as "groundcovers" which 1) spread by runners (horizontal stems which need something like mulch to cling to) and 2) those that spread by the ability to produce long horizontal branches which do not cling to anything. There is a selection of both kinds of groundcovers listed in the second article.

So, if you are thinking of the first kind of groundcovers (spread by runners)you would not want to use fabric unless you plan to go back and remove it once plants have established themselves. But then, you do run into the possibility of producing the "plant / mulch / landscape fabric sandwich.

What about tilling the soil around the plants to keep it from compacting (I'm in Phoenix, AZ where our ground is like cement)? It seems I would 1) have to move the mulch (which is covering the cloth, 2) cut the cloth to get to the ground to loosen, amend and fertilize it then 3) recover the whole area with the cloth and mulch only now I have a seam in the cloth for the weeds to enjoy.

All of what you describe above loosening, tilling, ammending and fertilizing should be done (and done thoroughly) before putting down the cloth and planting. I can not stress strongly enough that landscape fabric is a landscape helper and not an antidote to exisiting soil and weed problems. Again, please see Bob's remarks and perhaps take a look at his site. There is also a step-by-step list of instructions in the second article detailing what needs to be done to properly install the fabric.

Is it that the cloth is only used where you want a few defined plants and the rest is just mulched or what?

You are absolutely correct! The rest is, in the case of plants that spread by runners, mulched (with no fabric on the soil!) under the runners up to the crown (base) of each individual plant. This is kind of like tucking a blanket under a child's arms, over its shoulders, and then up to its neck.

Hey...this has been fun If you have any more questions...write back...

PS...if you have problems accessing the second article in this series, it means I am having trouble posting it...please try again!

G.