Landscape fabric?

I'm looking for information, experiences, and opinions about using landscaping fabric. This year I planted a couple dozen shrubs and trees as well as perennials. One side of our house is 50' but only about 6' to the property line. It's shaded. I won't have the funds to plant it for about 3 years so I thought of covering it with the fabric and then putting a thick layer of Cedar chunks on top (we have clay soil). Should I add anything under the fabric to help the soil--like worm castings or compost or would it mold or invite disease?

The other side of the house is wider--about 12' and I planted that with a curving path in the center. But the weeds are taking over! I thought of putting landscape fabric on the path then covering it with shredded or chunks of Cedar. Can I put the fabric around the shrubs? Do I cut holes near the base or at the drip line? I'm leery of using the fabric near the plants because I want the plants to have plenty of nutrients and worms (the idea is to have the worms break up the clay). This year when I planted everything I put 3-6" humus on the soil first and dug it in a bit (was that too much?). If I use the fabric on the walkway, would it be better to do it in the autumn or the spring? I haven't used any mulch because of all of the humus. But the weeds are absolutely loving the humus. My ph is around 7.0 but I'd like to bring that down a little since most of the plants like things a bit acid. Are there any alternatives to keep these weeds to a manageable level and keep the worms happy?

Hey Velnita...there are folks ALOT more experienced than me..that will hopefully respond...but so far everything I've read or learned says that landscape fabric is bad stuff to put in where stuff is actually growing...it can be used under walkways, between raised beds, etc..but it makes a huge mess if used in the beds themselves. Better answer is newspaper(cut a few slits so it will drain better) and mulch on top. This is supposed to help better with the weeds and also gives your plants some help too. Apparently there's still an opportunity for weed seeds to land on top of the mulch, but it's not quite composted enough for them to grow well, so it's a better opportunity to at least keep the population down considerably. Hope that helps..:)

Thanks for answering. I forgot about newspaper. That might work. How close to the base of a shrub should I put it? Should I keep it outside of the dripline? Will the nutrients from the mulch go through the newspaper? Can I put soil additives on the soil beneath the newspaper? I know that I have a lot of questions but I don't know where to ask them.

I have extensive experience with landscape fabric and my advice is DON'T DO IT. I did exactly what you are thinking of doing, I laid down landscape fabric under shrubs & trees. What happened after a few years was the shrub/tree roots grew into the fabric and now it is almost impossible to remove. In addition, it doesn't stop weeds. Many weeds grow on top of the fabric so they are easy to remove but some grow through the fabric and can't be pulled out. Putting down newspapers is a much better idea. I have done this in other areas and in my opionion does a better job of controlling weeds, is loved by earthworms and the best part, it biodigrades in 2-3 years.

Oh no! I'd be heartbroken if the roots of my shrubs grew into the fabric! Doesn't the fabric break down in time?
Would newspapers be okay for the pathway?

If you buy the cheaper fabric it does begin to break down in about 10 years. However, I bought the professional grade stuff which will last for 20+ years.

If you plan to make this a permanent pathway with no trees or shrubs growing next to the pathway, then landscape fabric is the better choice. However, just laying mulch on top of the fabric is not sufficient anchorage. You need to pin the fabric down along the edges. You can buy the pins I think at Loew's & Home Depot or online. Another alternative is to weigh down the edges with bricks or stones.

Good Luck.

Is landscape fabric the same as burlap? I was thinking of putting down some burlap on a slope -- but I assumed it would decompose in a year or so.

I am totally with frahnzone5 - nasty, horrible, awful stuff, lol! The previous owner of my home used it throughout the garden beds, so now I have black, fraying material impregnated with bermuda grass roots in all of the beds. Grrrrrr....

Happy, no, it's really not the same stuff - burlap is made out of biodegradable fiber, whereas most landscape cloth is made out of plastic/ vinyl products that don't break down quickly. Burlap is made out of jute and would be a good choice for preventing erosion.

I think the fabric would be okay for a path that you are going to keep permanently. It probably still would not be my first choice though because of the reasons above.

It smothers out everything good for the dirt and in time, the weeds sure do come through and are a real bear to pull!

Several layers of newspaper or even cardboard are a better choice as they'll smother what is already there but break down in time making your soil better.

There is a landscape fabric that actually feels like fabric and not plastic but I don't remember what it's called. I used both at my other house. The fabric type rips when you try to remove it and the plastic type leaves some really nice packed down soil....

It sounds like newspaper is what I'm looking for. Yeah--it's cheap! Should I add things to the soil (worm castings, compost, etc.) under the newspaper? Will I be able to add them on top one year later and have them still nourish the soil even though the newspaper may not be broken down yet? What would be the best time to lay the newspaper--autumn or next spring? Should I keep them on the outside of the drip line of the plants or can I put them closer to the plants/trees?

I know it's a lot of questions but any info will help.

I do the newspaper any time I need a new bed! You can mulch it or start layering topsoil, manure, compost, peat moss, grass clippings or any combination, to hold the newspaper down and start improving the soil. If you are planning ahead, I'd do it now and handle it as lasagna composting. When you are ready to plant next year, you can flip the dirt where you want to plant and add newspaper between the plants if wanted or needed and add more dirt or mulch.

I really don't think you will hurt the trees so long as you don't add like 4 inches of dirt. If you wet the newspaper when you put it down and add enough dirt to cover it, so it won't blow away, the trees should be fine, maybe even better off as it will serve as a light mulch.

We are using the newspaper/chip mulch method this year and its working great. Its been slow going, but we have most of the area we want as beds covered now. We put down a thick layer of papers, wet it good, then cover with "free" wood chips we got when the electric company was trimming for power lines. Its much easier to plant thru newspaper than to cut a big enough whole in landscape fabric to support growing plants. Especially plants like cannas that put out shoots from underground runners. I had fabric in one bed and the cannas were forcing up tents before I noticed what was going on. Almost killed them off. I would just put a thicker layer of paper where you want to put the path. Also, be careful walking on wet newspaper. It can be very slippery. Here a picture of an area in progress. I did use landscape fabric on the raised vegetable beds, but I'll uncover them in the fall and till in the mulch on top of the fabric. I may store the fabric for next year, since this method worked well at keeping weeds down and the beds moist.