Kitchen Garden Forum

This is a mistake or misunderstanding that I have made but I'm sure some of you will have interesting comments to make.

This certainly applies to the cheap, non-woven type.

It isn't of use as a base for paths where applied in strips and left. The weeds grow not just under and over but through it too. Whether it is grass, the roots of which grip tightly into the fabric or bindweed which is quite happy underneath the fabric.

I'm never going to leave it down for more than a season.

Agreed. I've used that stuff in the distant past and found it to be ineffective.
Coincidentally, we were lining a pond yesterday and the interlining was almost identical to this fabric.

Only used it once. Never again. Weeds thrived under it.

When I moved into current property found they had use GPO(General Post Office for you youngsters) bags as weed suppressing fabric.

I use it for my paths & some plant through beds like the pumpkin patch! You really need to be careful what weight & weave you buy. My first roll for paths was UK company & I got 10 years out of it. Replacement was pants & edges not sealed properly as I couldn't remember the site I bought the first lot from so used some from 'A'. Big mistake!

Research for the big poly tunnel suppliers, use that in your search, not weed suppressing membrane but use words like commercial in your search. Price is comparable but length you have to buy is more.

My Dad used old compost bags under paths long before I remember weed supressing materials were on the market, his theory was it starved the weeds of both water and light, it seemed to work.

Over large areas it works but my experience is that path width strips don't have the desired effect. Essentially too much edge length.

I had a dreadful time removing some fabric from an adjacent part of the plot. I think it had been cut to plant through, so with meadow grass roots firming embedded within it, creeping thistle growing through, soil on top and bindweed underneath it took a lot of effort and care to remove.
I think I will be removing small pieces of it for years to come!