"Life finds a way."
Gardeners everywhere can relate to the famous Jurassic Park quote by applying its message to weeds.
A Redditor posting on the r/landscaping subreddit reached out for help after weeds infiltrated some of their month-old flower beds despite having used weed fabrics (also known as landscaping fabrics).
In the post, the gardener shared pictures of the newly installed flowerbeds with the unwelcome invaders present in some.
That prompted them to pose a couple of questions to the subreddit: "Is this just normal and something that happens? Or should I contact the landscaper?"
They followed up asking for suggestions to deal with the pesky weeds. The community on Reddit was quick to get the original poster up to speed on weeds' resistance to many counter-measures.
"That's just nature doing what it does best," a user wrote. They added that "flower beds don't stay clean without effort."
They also informed the original poster about the ineffectiveness of weed fabrics.
"In my experience the weed fabric inevitably becomes the very thing that weeds will use to spread their roots easily," one user commented.
🗣️ What's the hardest thing about taking care of your yard?
🔘 Mowing the lawn 🏡
🔘 Controlling weeds 🌿
🔘 Keeping pests at bay 🐿️
🔘 I don't have a yard 🤷
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
Another Redditor pointed out that even if the fabrics "can help old deep rooted weeds from reappearing," there's one big problem — the wind. "New weed seeds blow in all the time," they noted.
Not only do weed fabrics not work in the long term, they also come with other negative consequences for the soil.
Common plastic-based fabrics can impede healthy soil development and plant growth, and microplastics can linger in the soil. They also can pose a danger to insects that are beneficial to the soil, like earthworms.
Making matters worse, the landscape fabrics can be a challenge to remove as they break into smaller pieces and get moved by rain and wind. It's why sticking to other hacks like cardboard boxes, wood chips, and newspapers are the better options. Meanwhile, native plants and natural clover lawns can help suppress weed growth.
Commenters on Reddit advised the original poster to get comfortable with weeding while also advising some remedies.
"Easiest solution is to pull them out, long-term solution is to out-plant them with desirable species," a Redditor suggested.
The original poster noted that they were concerned about local deer eating everything they plant, to which Redditors suggested deer-resistant plants like lavender to solve the issue.
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