If you are struggling with weeds all the time, especially in your vegetable garden, then you might have considered using a weed barrier.
However, you need to know as much about the weed barrier as possible to ensure that you are getting the best results. Using it wrong, can mean that your vegetables will also die and not grow as needed.
This is why you should make sure that you know everything about a weed barrier and how to use it correctly.
What is a weed barrier?
Never heard about a weed barrier before? Then, you don’t need to worry. We’ll explain exactly what a weed barrier is so that you can understand better how this can work for keeping weeds out of your garden.
A weed barrier is basically a piece of landscaping plastic that you are laying just underneath the soil. It will not allow weed to grow through. However, it will also not allow vegetables to grow, if you don’t install it correctly.
There are different methods of installing a weed barrier, but only one basic one if you want to make sure that your vegetables growing and not the weed.
What does a weed barrier do?
What is a weed barrier’s purpose? It smothers the weed so that it can’t grow. And, because of the solid piece of plastic covering the soil, it will not allow the weed to go through the plastic to start growing.
This is a great way to make sure that you don’t have any weed problems in your vegetable garden. You can use it in your flower garden as well, but you need to make sure that you know how to use it. It is always better to hire a professional to do the weed barrier installation for you.
It can prevent anything that is lying underneath the plastic layer from growing. Saving you a lot of time in keeping weed from growing. This can be frustrating and a long process to keep your vegetable garden free of weed.
Type of barriers that you can use
The main barrier that you can use is plastic. A special design plastic that is also known as landscaping plastic. However, if you don’t love the idea of using plastic in your garden, there is an alternative that you can use for sure.
Many people are making use of cardboard or non-glossy newspapers. This is also a great barrier that will keep weed out of your garden. The only thing that you should know is that it doesn’t work for a very long period, but it can be really great for your plants when it decomposes.
The normal landscaping plastic weed barrier can last for up to 5 years. Making this a great way to save money in the long run.
How to use it correctly?
The secret is that you should make sure that you know how to use it correctly. There are different methods, but only the one that is working completely.
First, you are digging all the holes in the ground as needed. This can’t be done after you have laid the plastic in the ground. Without the holes, you might not be able to plant the seed or seedlings.
Then you should cut “X” in the place where the vegetable is going to grow. Making sure that you leave room for your vegetables to grow. Without cutting the X into the plastic, you will not have enough room in the plastic for the plants to grow and for the weed to stop growing.
Things that you should keep in mind when using a weed barrier
There are a couple of things that you should keep in mind when you are using a weed barrier. First of all, the plastic won’t allow moisture like rain into the ground.
You will need to have a sprinkling system in order for your plants to get water and to have soil that is moist and allowing the ground to get water.
Not many people like how the weed barrier looks. Especially, if you are placing it on top of the ground. Until the vegetables are growing and covering the soil, you will have a garden that has plastic instead of flowers to admire.
This is why many people are placing a small amount of soil on top of the weed barrier. This is to make sure that you hide the barrier. But, watering can still be a huge problem if you don’t have the right type of sprinkling system.
Weed barrier can be a lifesaver if you are struggling with weed all the time. However, before you can just install or lay plastic on top of your soil, there are a couple of things that you should know.
If you don’t know how to install it correctly, there is a huge chance that you will not have growing vegetables as well. This is why this guide is so important to you.
It will allow you to know for sure that you will have a beautiful vegetable garden, but without the work of removing weed all the time.
