Maintaining a garden bed can be difficult if you have weeds to contend with. Weeds frequently grow wild in soil that is rich and moist and will mostly compete for the nutrition for your plants. Using a chemical weed killer is effective but it’s not a healthy option for you and your environment. The use of weed mats in a garden bed can be effective; it’s a non-toxic way which can help you stop the growth of weeds.
 
Weed Mat works by stopping the supply of sunlight to the weeds, therefore killing them in a natural way. There are organic versions of weed mats like mulch or bark. Some gardeners also use newspaper for this purpose. A high-quality weed mat will suppress the growth of weeds and provides enough drainage for the soil underneath, so it stays moist and nourished.
 
 
 
Purchasing a Weed Mat:
Before buying a weed mat, you need to take into some consideration the qualities which are very important to you. Measure the size of your garden bed to determine the weed mat dimensions you’ll need. Some of the main qualities to look for in a weed mat include durability and resistance against fungus, molds, and tears.
 
Installing a Weed Mat:
It’s very easy to install a weed mat without any assistance, but with a little help can make the job faster and more accurately. Before you install the weed mat, you need to remove first the existing weed in the area. Try removing all the weeds from the root, so that they will not crop up again. You will also need landscaping staples, stakes or pins to bind the weed mat in place. Make sure you accommodate the existing plants in the garden bed before laying the weed mat. Cut the weed mat around a plant; make sure you are not covering the roots of the plant. Over other parts of the garden bed, allow an overlap of an inch or more, so that you don’t have an open spot that will allow weeds to come up. Stake the borders firmly. Cover the sides of the garden bed properly to avoid weed growth at the borders. Stake or staple the weed mat at all the borders. Cover the weed mat with a layer of mulch, which will help it in place, and minimize exposure to sunlight, thereby making it last longer.
 
 

We hope that with the simple information we provide the help you know more about using weed mats on a Garden Bed. At Nice Backyard, we supply and install Weed Mats just give us a call on (03) 9402 6483

Weed mat is generally made of plastic or cloth. It works by stopping the supply of sunlight to the weeds, thereby killing them. A high-quality weed mat will suppress the growth of weeds, while at the same time providing enough drainage for the soil underneath so that it stays moist and nourished.
 
You can reduce the need for weeding by laying down a weed mat, also known as landscape fabric. Weeds have a difficult time penetrating the barrier, but water does not. Put down a weed mat on a calm day after you have prepared your soil.
Here are the steps on how to put down a weed mat:

1. Clear the garden area of debris and mulch. Pull as many weeds as possible. Leave the plants in place, if you have not yet planted your plants, do not do so until after laying the weed mat.
2. Unroll the weed mat on top of the garden area. lay it right over the top of your plants or flowers. For large plants, such as bushes or trees stop unrolling once you reach the trunks or stems. And using a sharp pair of scissors, cut the fabric off from the roll at these points, and at the end of each row.
3. Cut an X over the top of the smaller plants and fold back the triangles. Carefully slip the weed mat down to the ground, around each plant. Make the X’s larger as necessary.
4. Set the weed mat on the other side of a large plant and continue unrolling. Repeat for each row needed until you cover the entire bed. Then go back and custom fit the pieces of fabric on the sides of a large plant. Overlap edges by one-half inch. Cut the weed mat to shape around the curves.
5. Secure the weed mat at each corner with landscape anchors, weed mat pins, wire staples. Inserting them into the ground through the fabric using a hammer. For larger pieces, secure at the corners and every 3-5 feet.
6. Cut the X’s and fold back the triangles to reveal the soil when planting additional plants. Then cover the mat with mulch.

Tips:

• You can leave the folded triangles in place around the base each plant or you can cut them off.
• Use biodegradable weed mats if you are growing annuals. If you use a permanent weed mat with annuals it will become ineffective n a year or two as you cut through it repeatedly to replant your plants every year.

We hope that with the tips we provided helped you on how to put down a weed mat. At Nice Backyard, we supply and install Weed Mat Rolls, you can give us a call on (03) 9402 6483.