PLEASE, help me with my flower beds?!?

If I'm redo-ing my flower bed and I need to put down a new weed barrier, could I just go to the fabric store and buy some black polyester fabric instead of paying $30-$40 at a home improvement store?

PLEASE, help me with my flower beds?!?
Hey newspaper!!! there's plenty of it and your plants will still receive water and the garden worms love eating paper, just make sure you use about 5 pieces of paper so it's thick and layer it over the edges of it's self so the weeds won't come through the cracks then mulch over the top of paper with bark or mulch of your choice to hold the peper down, and any weeds that come through i suggest wearing water proof gloves and get a paintbrush dipped in weed killer and paint the offending weeds with the killer then you won't get overspray onto the plants you love.
Reply:Yes, buy the stuff that you staple under furniture (you know, like to keep bugs and dust from going up under there). It's cheap, and works the same as the expensive stuff. You can mount it down along the sides to the ground with galvanized nails to keep it from blowing till you get the other stuff on it.
Reply:It depends on what you want to achieve. Weed barrier is one thing, but root barrier is another. Or you want both. Often you want to stop roots from big trees invading your flower bed and take away nutrients you lovingly added for your flowers. You also want to stop weed from invading the flowerbed and make it easier to trim the grass/weed as you mow the lawn.





One of the cheapest thing you can buy is construction plastic from hardware stores. This is the kind of very large plastic sheets that can be used to line a pond or brickworks to prevent dampness. Often the cost is about $3 for a huge sheet! It's wonderful to use as a root barrier.





To prevent grass/weed effectively you would need a barrier made out of short wooden pegs tied together by metal wire. You put it down as a low fence about 1 foot above the soil surface allowing you to use grass edge trimmer to neatly cut the grass outside the barrier and completely prevent weed and grass invading the flower bed.





Then in the flower bed, you put about 2-3 inches of mulch to supress grass growing on the flower bed.
Reply:7 to 9 layers of newspaper, mulch. Very inexpensive, effective weed barrier.
Reply:If you use multiple sheets of newspaper as a ground cover, it will be a lot less expensive than using what they sell you at the garden center. You can wet it down as soon as you lay it down so that it doesn't blow around. After you cover it with the mulch of your choice, you'll never know the difference.





However, when it's time to replant the flower beds, the difference will be apparent. The newspaper and mulch will have decomposed naturally, enriching your soil. Just turn the soil over and work it in.





If you use the weed barrier they sell at the garden center, there will be bits and pieces of it that you will want to pull out of the flower beds, which is almost worse than having to do the weeding!





In my opinion, newspaper is the only way to go!
Reply:Not sure that will work. Weeds can be very pesky and push through just about anything that is'nt thick. I use inexpensive drop cloths or tarps, made out of thick plastic. They are normally used for painting projects. It works just fine in my flower beds and is way cheaper than the other stuff advertised. Hope this helps. Good Luck %26amp; Peace2U
Reply:The whole idea of the plastic is to keep sun and water out.


Weeds need water and sun to grow.





The process of blocking weeds with plastic is called solarization.





I do not believe polester will work as it will keep it moist and you will be inviting pests and weeds will grow around it.
Reply:The newspaper people have it right. A good layer of newspaper under mulch is an excellent solution. I use it all the time. It keeps weeds down and lets water and nutrients through. It will decompose in a couple of years, but by that time you would have had to redo the fabric anyway. I put some fabric in a few years ago and had to rip it all out. I'll never use it again.

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