How to Install Weed Barrier

When battling weed, gardeners often consider the use of weed barriers such as mulch or fabric. To protect your beds or landscape, it’s advisable that you install a weed barrier with the highest value.

How do you achieve this?

Read this post which provides a straightforward breakdown of the procedures involved in installing weed barrier cloth.

Reasons You Should Install Weed Barrier

In the first place, weed barrier can be traced to the mid-1980s when growers had to control invasive weeds and improve the health of their plants.

Additionally, traditional methods such as organic mulch (straws or wood chips) have been used to remove the weed. The barriers further relieve you of the stress of pulling weeds and following rigorous processes to keep your garden neat.

Necessary Tools and Materials for Installing Barrier

When choosing your specific weed barrier, pay attention to the variety of options that exist. As earlier mentioned, gardeners or landscapers use any of the following:

• Shredded leaves
• Compost
• Cardboard
• Landscape fabric
• Old newspapers
• Wood bark

Your choice of weed barrier should be based on the highest benefits for your plants. Garden barrier cloth, for instance, has been recognized as the most durable weed barrier method because it allows plants to easily receive fertilizer and oxygen.

When installing the weed barrier, these additional tools are necessary:

• Rake
• Water
• Shovel
• Wheelbarrow
• Water hose
• Gloves

Step 1: Begin by Clearing the Garden Area

Using the best weed barrier enables you to control weed growth. Yet, achieving the maximum results is dependent on some personal effort on your part.

Remove every visible weed from the area and clear dirt, stones, and sticks that may get in the way of the barrier material.

Since it’s vital that the weed barrier lay flat, use a rake to clear the surface of the ground until smooth.

Step 2: Lay the Weed Barrier Material

The next most important step when installing the weed barrier is laying. Usually, it’s recommended that you lay the fabric over the garden area before planting.

However, if you’ve grown your plants or grasses already, you can lay the fabric over the plants and slit through. Creating a hole around the plant allows you to protect the plants from any invasive weed which might try to grow.

When laying barrier fabric, allow it to extend outside the specific area for accuracy. Next, cut off the excess. If you choose mulch instead, ensure that you apply it up to three inches. When the weed barrier is too thin, weed prevention would barely be attainable.

Use the wheelbarrow and a shovel to cover and spread the garden area. But remember to leave some breathing area of about 1-2 inches for the plants to respire.

If you use papers, spray the garden area with water before adding mulch to the surface.

Step 3: Conduct Regular Checks

After installing your choice weed barrier, create time throughout the year to check that no weeds are growing. In areas where weeds appear, add some more mulch.

Fabrics can last as long as 5-7 years but you need to monitor them to get the best results.

Conclusion

If you’ve decided to install a weed barrier in your garden, you’d need to learn how to do it right. And this post has provided a clear and easy guide for laying a weed barrier.

Have you tried controlling weed with mulch materials or barrier fabric? Which method works best for you? We are excited to know!