Ugh! Landscape fabric!

[fidgiegirl]

We have beds with landscape fabric installed about six inches down. We can't even pierce this stuff. Advice? I'd like to take it out but don't know if I'll be able to. Maybe cut chunks out? The plants' roots will have nowhere to go!

[Rosemary]

Best to remove it. Probably will have to dig out the soil, then cut the fabric. It should cut easily with a utility knife.

[fidgiegirl]

What a mess! I hate that stuff so much; weeds always still grow in the bed, they grow on top of the soil. Grr! Well, maybe it's warmed up enough to get a start.

[Rosemary]

Consider it an opportunity for meditation! :)
A few years ago I moved all the rocks in our front landscape beds to remove the dirt that had settled on top of the plastic that prevents weeds. It was a temporary fix; I want to redo the beds and take out the plastic, replace rocks with mulch -- that's my big project for this year if we have any decent weather before it turns broiling hot outside.

[rose]

My mom had us put fabric down. The weeds were harder to pull out of the fabric than the dirt. I don't get fabric at all. When I had a house I got rid of all of it. It would creep up and look ugly. I still had to weed.

[SteveinMN]

A utility knife/box-cutter will work fine once you clear enough space in the hole to use it. I just make an X and plant and things go fine from there.

[CathyA]

I don't like the stuff either. Aren't the roots supposed to grow down through it?
What I've found is that mice like to live under it, and sometimes hurt the tree/bush.
The person who built this house put heavy gauge black plastic all around the house, with decorative stones on top.
But over the years, dirt built up in the rocks, and tons of weeds grew there. We pulled it all up.