Row by Row Episode 236: New Garden Supplies That You Need

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Tonight, we are discussing landscape fabric and its pros and cons and introducing our fabric cover garden kits! When used correctly, landscape fabric can be an effective way to limit weed growth and keep your garden beds looking pristine. It stifles weeds, locks in moisture, and helps with stability.

Pros of Landscape fabric

• Keeps inorganic mulches like rocks from sinking into the soil. Landscape fabric helps to stabilize the soil.
• Prevents weed seeds covered by fabric from sprouting for up to a year
• Reduces the need for herbicides
• Works well on slopes where erosion control is a problem
• Helps the soil retain moisture and slows evaporation
• You can choose from many different materials and thicknesses, which makes it customizable for different projects. Also, the variety of choices means you can control costs, buying the right type of material for each project or area of your lawn.
• Warms the soil in winter. Clear plastic increases soil temperatures by up to 9 degrees Fahrenheit, black plastic by 5 degrees, and polypropylenes by about 2 degrees.
• A popular product that can be found at most any garden center, superstore, or online retailer.
• If landscape fabric is the right choice for your garden or other yard project, you’re ready to learn how to install landscape fabric.

Cons

• Overtime, decomposing particles or mulch & soil clog the perforations in the cloth. As it becomes clogged, adequate amounts of water and air are unable to reach the plant roots, leading to the plant’s decline.
• Unwanted weed growth eventually rears its ugly head despite the weed barrier.
• The University of Florida says the long-term use of landscape fabric can negatively affect soil and plant health and is best used where ornamental plants aren’t growing like pathways or mailboxes.
• Earthworms, which aerate the soil, don’t develop, leading to compacted & unhealthy soil.
• The fabric acts as a barrier to organic materials biodegrading in the soil, which leads to an unhealthy soil structure.
• Weeds can still grow in the mulch on top of the fabric.
• Landscape fabric is time-consuming to install, especially around existing plantings.
• Depending on the size of the area and the thickness of the material, it can be expensive. Organic mulches, such as grass clippings and mulched leaves are free and contribute to soil health as they break down.

If downsides to landscape fabric have you rethinking your options, there are landscape fabric alternatives to consider:

• Cardboard (a great option for sheet mulching to remove part of your lawn)
• Ground cover plants
• Ground cover plants that flower
• Ground cover plants that work well in shade
• Newspaper
• Organic mulch, such as wood chips, straw, burlap, pine needles, grass clippings, shredded leaves, and compost. They also decompose, adding valuable nutrients and organic matter to the soil.

Hoss Lazy Garden Ground Cover

Our Lazy Garden Ground Cover is an easy way to keep weeds out of your garden! You won’t find another one like it. The ground cover is a heavy-duty, woven polypropylene fabric that provides many years of reliable results. It is resistant to punctures, tears, and weed growth. It is formulated to resist UV degradation, the design allows air, water, and nutrients to pass through. There’s no need to cut or burn holes for your plants; our Lazy Garden Ground Cover is a quick plant fabric with pre-cut slits for optimal plant spacing. Two sizes are available: 15 ft x 30 ft or 15 ft x 20 ft. Fabric pins included.  This ground cover is reusable with an expected lifespan of 8-10 years. The 15 ft. x 30 ft. ground cover has 7 rows of pre-cut slits that measure 12 inches in length with a 36-inch spacing in between each slit. These slits are perfect for planting carrots, garlic, radishes, swiss chard, and more; it also comes with 8 rows of pre-cut Xs that are spaced 24 inches apart, these spaces are great for planting vegetables such as lettuce, broccoli, tomatoes, cauliflower, peppers and more! Garden layout examples are provided below. Want the complete kit with drip irrigation? Check out our Lazy Garden Kits! Lazy Garden Ground Cover Includes:

• fabric pins (32 pins: 15 ft x 20 ft) (40 pins: 15 ft x 30 ft)
• pre-cut slits/X’s

Lazy Garden Kit

If you are looking for an easy way to start your garden, you’ve found it! Our Lazy Garden Kit has everything you need to be successful at starting a new garden or making your current plot even better, including ground cover, customized drip irrigation system, and pins. The ground cover is a heavy-duty, woven polypropylene fabric that provides many years of reliable results, resistant to punctures, tears, and weed growth. It is formulated to resist UV degradation, the design allows air, water, and nutrients to pass through. There’s no need to cut or burn holes for your plants, this ground cover is a quick plant fabric with pre-cut slits for optimal plant spacing for your transplants or seeds. Two sizes are available: 15 ft x 30 ft or 15 ft x 20 ft. Fabric pins are provided. This ground cover is reusable with an expected lifespan of 8-10 years. The 15 ft. x 30 ft. ground cover has 7 rows of pre-cut slits that measure 12 inches in length with a 36-inch spacing in between each slit. These slits are perfect for planting carrots, garlic, radishes, swiss chard, and more; it also comes with 8 rows of pre-cut Xs that are spaced 24 inches apart, these spaces are great for planting vegetables such as lettuce, broccoli, tomatoes, cauliflower, peppers and more! Lazy Garden Kit 15′ x 20′ Includes: 1- Woven polypropylene fabric ground cover 72- fabric pins (for ground cover & irrigation components) 1 – 20 ft. Mainline Tubing 10- pre-cut drip lines – 10- goof plugs 10- transfer barbs 1 – Figure 8 end clamp 1 – 20 PSI Filter Regulator Combo 1 – Hole Punch Lazy Garden Kit 15′ x 30′ Includes: 1- Woven polypropylene fabric ground cover 95- fabric pins (for ground cover & irrigation components) 1 – 30 ft. Mainline Tubing 15- pre-cut drip lines 15- goof plugs 15- transfer barbs 1 – Figure 8 end clamp 1 – 20 PSI Filter Regulator Combo 1 – Hole Punch Drip Tape Irrigation Kit Requirements: Water hose – connects to a 3/4″ water hose or 3/4″ spigot. Pressure – PSI should be below 50 psi and 8 gallons per minute. Requires a flow rate between 0.4 to 8 gallons per minute. To calculate your flow rate, simply record the time (in minutes that it takes to fill a 5-gallon bucket with water. Then divide 5 by the time above to obtain your gallon-per-minute rate. For example, if it takes 30 seconds (0.5 minutes) to fill a 5-gallon bucket, your flow rate is 10 gallons per minute because: 5 gal / 0.5 min = 10 gal/min Row length – Our tubing can be used on a maximum row length of 30 ft. at 20 psi. We don’t recommend using rows longer than 30 feet. If rows are too long, water will not be equally distributed throughout the tubing along the row. Row number – With a flow rate of 5 gallons per minute, our tubing can support 300 feet of tubing. That’s the equivalent of 30 rows that are 10 feet long. To calculate how much tubing your system can support, first calculate your flow rate based on the example above. For example, if your flow rate is 8 gallons per minute, the maximum length of tape your system can support is 480 feet. The flow rate on the tubing is 0.5 gallons per emitter per hour. The emitter spacing is 6″. Flow rate per foot/1 gallon per hour.

Small Drip Irrigation Kit

Our Small Drip Irrigation Kit contains everything you need to water your small vegetable garden.  Perfect for wanting to utilize drip irrigation, but have a small garden. Drip irrigation allows you to use less water while watering more effectively. This is because you are only placing water directly where your plants need it – at the roots. Because you’re not watering the leaves, disease pressure and pest pressure will be greatly reduced. You will also have much fewer weeds between rows in your vegetable garden. With overhead watering, many areas of the garden are unnecessarily watered, which results in watering weed seeds and germinating weeds that you don’t want to grow. However, with drip irrigation, you only place water underneath or beside the plants and you don’t water those spaces between rows. The Small Drip Irrigation Kit also makes it really easy to fertilize your garden while you water it, saving you time and energy. By installing a Fertilizer Injector between the spigot and your irrigation system, you can easily inject water-soluble fertilizer into your watering system so that you feed your vegetable plants while you water them. Small Drip Irrigation Kit Includes: 1 – 30 ft. roll of mainline tubing 2 – 100 ft. roll 1/4 tubing with emitters 1 – 20 PSI Filter Regulator Combo 1 – Figure 8 End Clamp 1 – Green Hole Punch 10 – Transfer Barbs 10 – Goof Plugs 32 – garden pins Small Drip Kit Irrigation Kit Requirements: Water hose – connects to a 3/4″ water hose or 3/4″ spigot. Pressure – PSI should be below 50 psi and 8 gallons per minute. Requires a flow rate between 0.4 to 8 gallons per minute. To calculate your flow rate, simply record the time (in minutes that it takes to fill a 5-gallon bucket with water. Then divide 5 by the time above to obtain your gallon-per-minute rate. For example, if it takes 30 seconds (0.5 minutes) to fill a 5-gallon bucket, your flow rate is 10 gallons per minute because: 5 gal / 0.5 min = 10 gal/min Row length – Our tubing can be used on a maximum row length of 30 ft. at 20 psi. We don’t recommend using rows longer than 30 feet. If rows are too long, water will not be equally distributed throughout the tubing along the row. Row number – With a flow rate of 5 gallons per minute, our tubing can support 300 feet of tubing. That’s the equivalent of 30 rows that are 10 feet long. To calculate how much tubing your system can support, first calculate your flow rate based on the example above. For example, if your flow rate is 8 gallons per minute, the maximum length of tape your system can support is 480 feet. The flow rate on the tubing is 0.5 gallons per emitter per hour. The emitter spacing is 6″. Flow rate per foot/1 gallon per hour.

Products of the Week

Lazy Garden Ground Cover Lazy Garden Kits Small Drip Irrigation Kit

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