They tried to sell the amendments/fertilizer but we did not bite.

Ill try to take up the mat in the next few days. Call it $26 down the tube and a lesson learned.

Guess the best way is to cut the fabric in sections before and after each plant. Then remove each section and re-fluff the mulch?

With the rain today, it looks especially good!

It will still look good without the fabric.

Considering leaving the mat in place until early spring. Thought being this will kill the grass beneath it while weeds are not a threat due to the upcoming colder months.

Then once early spring arrives, remove the mat and add some fresh mulch.

Thoughts?

It won't hurt to leave the landscape fabric in place over the winter. It'll be too cold for weeds to grow anyway.

The shrubs should not go unmulched.

Take it out. I made a mistake and used it a few years ago and had to pull it out recently when I discovered that plants were bone dry even though we'd had several days of heavy rain. A layer of leaves and mulch on top of it were blocking any moisture from getting to them. It was just about impossible to remove, and I had to cut it with a serrated knife, in pieces, and rip it out. The weeds and young trees that were growing above it had roots that penetrated it and it was really hard to remove it. It looked good for a couple of years, but I'll never do it again.

Did you put the landscape fabric over live grass? If so, I would leave it until lawns are well green and growing next spring. Then expose a small section first and leave it exposed for about 10-15 days to confirm the grass is dead before removing all of the fabric.

Next time you want to change an area from grass to mulched bed, try smothering with cardboard, which does not cause the problems of the fabric, can be found for free, and decomposes, so it just disappears after a season or two, depending on climate and soil. Most folks would cover that with mulch and/or leaves so it stays in place and looks better. Wait at least 2 months (during growing season) before piercing it to add plants. Some grass is extremely tenacious and patient.

I would also urge you to investigate and consider different borders for keeping the grass separated from your mulched area. If you don't have some type of barrier, the grass will creep in/around/under/over and take over, no matter what fabric, mulch, cardboard, etc... is there.