IME, landscaping fabric is not very effective for killing lawn, it's not
even very effective on the soil to control weeds. Is the lawn totally dead
underneath or did you just lay the cloth and immediately start planting? If
so, you will shortly have grasses coming up through the planting holes and
strangling your desireable plants. If the lawn is dead and you have removed
it, mulching is really a far better way to go. Effectively retards weed
growth, conserves soil moisture and allows the plants to spread naturally.

pam - gardengal


spampot wrote:

Because I wanted to kill off the grass under the tree first.

Kevin Miller wrote:
If you planned on removing the cloth one day, why did you put it in to
begin with? I'd remove it, mulch it well and watch your plants
spread. In shade the weeds shouldn't be too much of a problem anyway,
especially with a good layer of mulch. The only time I use fabric is
if I want to kill off some grass and even then I use 2 to 3 layers
because it'd find it's way thru.

On Sat, 24 May 2003 11:56:32 -0400, spampot wrote:


I put down landscaping cloth and mulch under our purple-
leaved plum and started a shade garden. I've cut fair-sized
holes in the cloth where I've put plants in, but am wondering
how far out to cut the cloth away from plants that I want to
spread, like hostas and ostrich fern. Any advice? Yes, I do
hope one day to remove most if not all of the cloth, leaving
perhaps some narrow paths between plants so I can get in and
clean up.