What Not To Do

Some years back, I planted a long row of heirloom tomato plants. Before I planted, I covered the row with a roll of weed barrier fabric to control the weeds around my tomato plants. It worked.

Now years later, coming back to gardening, I plan to plant watermelon there. Now, years later "there" is full of weeds. The weed barrier fabric is buried under wind blown dirt and weeds. A four letter word comes to mind. Today with a shovel and a commitment to remove the fabric the whole length of the bed, I tackled the job.

Like most jobs, getting started was the hard part. HOW to approach the project? The obvious place to start was at the end of the row. I dug until I found the edge of the fabric and then I pulled. That didn't work. More digging, more coaxing, more digging and tugging and digging and grunting and surveying and digging. The first foot was up, but it wouldn't tear away from the other 30 feet, no way, it was a unit. I tried to cut through it with the shovel blade. It's tough stuff, even after all this time. Disintegrate already! It's not just fabric that needs to come up. Weeds have grown through the fabric and into the dirt and roots hold on for dear life. You pull, they pull back. Grrrrrrrr.

Weed barrier fabric advertises itself to last 6 years. For those of us wanting it to be the solution, we read that to mean we won't see weeds in that area for 6 years. WRONG. Weed seeds fly in with the wind from ABOVE. Weeds win. The fabric probably does last 6 years. Maybe longer. It's a polyester fiber. It's another landfill clogger.

If weed barrier fabric is something you are considering to help control the weeds in your garden, I shout, DON'T DO IT. Pull weeds. Watch the new baby weeds come up and knock them down when they are small. Be persistent. It's cheaper than the gym. You'll get a little vitamin D. It's very rewarding. And if you are like me, an hour in the garden might solve the problem you have been mulling over. Solutions come to an aerated mind.