PSA: You Don't Need Weed Cloth

You don't need weed cloth. You need thicker mulch.

I've written on this before, but I see it all the time. It's in parks and at homes. The recommendations are all over YouTube. 

Here is why you don't need weed cloth:

Weeds most often grow because the seeds blow in on the wind, get stirred up to the surface by being disturbed, get carried in with the mulch, or travel on the bottoms of shoes. You can't prevent weed seeds from coming in. Weed cloth only prevents seeds that are below it from germinating. If the weeds start growing on top of it, then it cannot help them.

I learned from a gardener/florist/nursery owner years ago that you need thick mulch to choke out the seeds that are below. You pick the handful of weeds that grow on the top. As the mulch breaks down, you have to replace it and smother the seeds that have moved in.

A related lesson is that you should take advice from people who have demonstrated expertise. The guy on YouTube wearing fancy white Nike shoes doesn't know what he's talking about or he would have stained up his perfect shoes already. I get my lawn advice from the friend with the best lawn I've ever seen who also owns a landscaping company. I get garden advice from experts and science, not the person with the flashy video production.

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