Old old weed fabric - can I ignore it?

12 years ago

Hi! I have some large beds that, at one point, had an anti-weed fabric put down. The fabric is porous and water-permeable. It was put down before I bought this house and, I suspect, before the previous owner had it as well. It's now under several (5-7) inches of topsoil, and grass/clover/weeds grow over it pretty freely.

I want to reclaim those beds, and I want to put in self-seeders such as delphiniums and hollyhocks in the sunny areas and digitalis in the dappled sun areas. I can plant the 'mother plants' through the fabric easily enough, but I'm a little worried that the seeds that drop won't be able to root through the fabric. On the other hand, 5-7" for a self-seeder sounds like it might be enough, to me, and other plants/weeds seem to not have a problem.

Any advice? I'd love to avoid trying to excavate all that fabric, if I can...

Comment (1)

Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
12 years ago
I think you talked yourself through it and know the answer. It really should go. BUT it's mostly good news!
1) Probably not any viable weed seeds left under it.
2) That 5-7" of stuff on top is probably very fertile with good tilth.
3) You only have to do it once.
4) Your plants will do so much better without that barrier preventing the roots from getting deep into the soil where they need to be to supply moisture and nutrients to the plants and hold them upright.

When I've had to do this, I pull the weeds (with roots) as thorougly as possible first. This is so I can keep that soil on top and it helps a lot with removing the fabric since those weed roots are no longer all tangled up in it. If there are no shrubs you are keeping there, it's so much easier to get out.
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