Well I have a story to tell! It sounds so simple, but I guess I decided too late in the season to find the perfect fabric to line the elevated garden beds online, but I eventually found it locally. Don’t forget that we used cloth mesh on the bottom so I needed fabric so the soil wouldn’t run out.
First, I decided I had to have nonwoven gardening fabric which can also doubles as weed barrier fabric. While I have been known to make potato grow bags out of lighter weight landscaping fabric, I also have purchased grow bags online that are made out of black nonwoven fabric. Both fabrics help the roots to breath.
I looked all over the internet and couldn’t find rolls of the fabric. I remembered that AgFabric has some nice garden covers so I went to their website and found some nonwoven weed barrier landscape fabric so I ordered it. After it took a week to get here, I found out that they sent me a roll that was woven and felt like plastic. When I called the customer service line, the lady told me that they were out of the nonwoven so the warehouse just sent me an alternative. Sure wish they had emailed or called me first! They provided a return address label so I could send it back.
Since the same AgFabric nonwoven fabric was sold on Amazon, I purchased if from there. Guess what?? You know the answer – Amazon sent the woven fabric. At this point, I am not sure if AgFabric even makes a nonwoven version or if there is a labeling problem. The main problem with this woven fabric is that water just stayed on top and did not flow through. Also, I didn’t think it was good for air circulation.
This weekend I decided to go to Lowes and see what kind of landscaping fabric they had. I was surprised to see that they had a heavier duty type of nonwoven fabric which was sold in rolls of 3ft by 50ft. It is made by Sta-Green and is called the Ultimate Weed Barrier Landscape Fabric. While I would have preferred it to be 4ft wide, I can’t be too choosy at this point. I was busy stapling the fabric to the elevated garden beds so we can have soil delivered soon. I have to plant my garlic this fall and be ready for spring planting!
Since we had a lot of rain on Monday, I can assure you that the rain drained through my new landscaping fabric! Thanks Sta-Green you saved the day!
