When moving into a new home, it's not unusual to question some of the previous tenant's choices.
But those odd decisions can extend to the garden, too, as one Redditor soon found out after moving in.
"Brand new house/new to gardening," they began a post on the r/Gardening community, along with a picture of a patch of their yard. "Why the plastic beneath the wood chips? What should I do with it?"
The offending material appears to be landscaping fabric, which is often packaged as a way to prevent the growth of weeds in a garden. However, the material can often cause more problems than it's worth, as some community members soon pointed out.
"I'd recommend removing it," one person replied. "After a while it will degrade into a million little plastic bits and be really hard to remove."
"It's a weed barrier," added another. "Yes, please pull it up and discard it."
As both of these Redditors went on to describe, using cardboard is a much better alternative, as it will degrade slowly and will still help slow the growth of weeds.
Landscaping fabric will not completely stop the growth of weeds, as these persistent plants often break through material. Weeds can also spread their roots along the fabric, making removal much more difficult.
And as one Redditor replied, if it's plastic, it will eventually break up into smaller fragments. These bits can easily make their way to other areas of the garden and leach their toxic chemicals into the soil surrounding prized plants.
Instead of spending your hard-earned cash on landscaping fabric, perhaps consider turning to a better alternative. After moving in, you're bound to have a bunch of empty boxes at your disposal, so flattening them and adding soil or mulch on top is a cheap and environmentally friendly way to start your perfect garden.
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