Lol, been there done that too, Charleney. What a paaain and a misery that experience was!! :-)

Been there and done that too...lol
I had two dogwood bushes with shallow roots wrapped all through the stuff... :-/

Yep! I thought I would keep the weeds down in my new bed by the street. I put down cloth and bought MANY bags of mulch. I spent days working my butt off putting it all in. No sooner was I finished when we had several rainy days. And there went my expensive, back breaking mulch floating down the street to the drain. I did put some more on at an added expense but in the end it didn't matter. The weeds grew on top of it, below it and through it! I'm still trying to get rid of the stuff. Every time I try to dig a hole to plant something I find another D*&M piece of it. I swear it multiplies!

Yesterday one neighbor was moaning that he had just spent a fortune on cloth and mulch only to see it float away in the deluge of rain we had last Monday and Tuesday. Was talking with another neighbor today and she just spent about $200.00 on mulch and cloth. Little does she know she will regret that soon!

I also know the pain of weed cloth. When I made new beds one summer, I was determined not to have a single weed come through. So of course, I put down a roll of weed cloth and mulched over it. For the first year it was fine, but then I found weeds growing on top of the cloth. Another problem that I never anticipated was how difficult it would be to plant anything around this barrier.

Now, I use wet newspaper and mulch and I've never looked back. I still find occasional sheets of it when I'm planting that I have to rip out unfortunately..

I second the use of wet newspapers or cardboard, cover with layer of compost, then mulch. I still get weeds, they are just much easier to pull, and the earthworms LOVE it!

The only place I will use weed barrier is in the paths between my raised daylily beds. Its works very well there. Years ago, I put it near a fence where I didn't want weeds - well, the weeds grew fine there and I had a terrible time getting the mulch fabric out. I also put it under pea gravel paths. Under paths is the only place it would be suitable.
Judith

Ulp ... glad I read this before I went out today to put down the weed cloth I bought yesterday! I do have some in my front yard rose bed, covered with pea gravel. Only the occasional weed (lawn grass) pops up.

I went the newspaper route earlier this spring, but that works only so-so -- Bermuda grass will get around it. Have to get down on knees and weed the old-fashioned way (it is good exercise, though).

Guess I'll keep the weed cloth for the paths.
Sylvia

I am soooo sorry that all of you have had the same awful experience. Hoping it will stop more f you from doing this. It was a terrible! I did use the cardboard and newspaper around new beds, and I liked it a lot. I think that is why my mulch is so fantastic. Love to you all, you need it.

Char.

I doubt there are many of us who haven't had the nightmare of weed barrier cloth. It gets you over and over:

1. its expensive
2. its a pain to install
3. it makes it difficult to plant
4. mulch will readily slide away
5. there are just as many weeds as before
6. the fine roots of the weeds grow right through the cloth, latch on and become impossible to pull out
7. removing the cloth requires first removing all of the mulch and a whole lotta time and mess
8. every time you remember steps 1 through 7 you feel so dumb because, as a gardener, you already knew that weed seeds come from above. Not below.