Using landscape fabric is dependant on the type of landscape or garden you wish to create.

If I had my way and if it was practical, I would eliminate the use of landscape fabric altogether in all of my designs. Not only would this make creating the designs much easier, but would also be a substantial savings for my clients.

The need for weed barrier in a design is actually related to the type of landscape a client wants me to create. If a client wishes for a low maintenance landscape that they’ll rarely have to deal with, them most likely the design will include fabric.

On the other hand, if a client asks for original landscaping ideas with beds and borders that I refer to as "living beds and borders", then it’s possible that we’ll eliminate their use altogether. For reference, a "living bed" is one generally created with mulch and compost where the client actually works, weeds, replants, and replenishes the soil. In this case, landscape fabrics would only get in the way.

However, most of the designs we create are for low maintenance landscapes that require very little weeding and upkeep. And therefore weed cloth is pretty much a necessity.

Landscape fabrics can serve different purposes in landscaping. One is, of course, to keep unwanted weeds and grasses from taking over the landscaped areas. The source of weeds and grasses are either already present in the soil or are from blown in seed. If you use a good quality fabric, you’ll win the battle with that which is already present. However, blown in seed is out of everyones control and will require some attention regardless of the quality of barrier used.

Another purpose is for ground and groundcover separation. When using groundcover such as decorative rock, it’s important to lay down a layer of weed cloth between the soil and groundcover. Otherwise, the two elements will eventually become mixed and your groundcover rock will work its way into the soil.

And still another purpose is as an underlayment for pavers, patios, and walkways. This helps to stabilize and contain the leveling material as well as prevent weeds and grasses that are already present in the soil.

So whether or not you actually need the added expense of landscaping fabric in your project is dependant on the type of landscape or garden you want to create. Or in the amount of maintenance and upkeep you want to put into it. It’s not always a necessity.

If you find that you design requires weed barrier then buy the best professional landscaping fabric on the market at this link.

I know that it's far from spring and most thoughts of spring planting. However, this is actually the best time to start planning your garden and landscaping ideas. You can think about your ideas all Winter and before you know it, it will be time for prepping the soil for the spring garden.

Moving ahead to early spring, most of us will head to the nurseries and garden centers like kids to the candy store.

Here's a little tip that can save you lots of money when that time comes:

Plants generally come in containers of 2, 4, 6 inch, 1 gallon, 5 gallon, etc. sizes. Plant price increases proportionately with the size of pot. And planting in our gardens and landscaping can add up in price very quickly.

What most people don't know is that the plants in the small containers will reach almost, if not the same size as the plants in the 1's and even some 5 gallon containers by mid season.

With this in mind, you can save lots of money at the nursery and still have a beautiful landscape or garden by Summer even if you choose plants in smaller pots.

Of course, most of us want a full looking landscape right now and if your budget allows for larger pots and price, I say go for it.

Just keep this in mind if you need to spread your landscaping budget out into different areas.

Landscaping Resources Update

Howdy Folks,

It's been a while since I've posted to this blog. And even though I've neglected to post here I've still been hard at work adding a lot of new landscaping ideas the the main site. Let's not forget the main site because that's really where everything happens.

Most of the new ideas are picture, plans, and guidelines to designs my company has actually created for offline clients. It really is a great resource for those of you set on doing it yourself.

Those that have become friends of The Landscape Design Site already know it as the best free resource for do it yourself landscaping information. I've put a lot into it to make it that way.

While I've added a lot of my own designs, I've also added a lot more pictures to the landscaping pictures directory. This is probably one of my most favorite parts of the entire site as it showcases designs from a lot of designers better than myself.

So go and check out all the new resources to the site and if you have any questions feel free to post them to the new landscaping forum. I'll get around to answering them as quick as I can.