Mulching foil may not be the right choice

You have certainly heard about the clever solution to keep your veggie beds free of weeds. Well, mulch film or bark can be really great, but not always. It is not a perfect solution. It may work but not for long. Unfortunately, there are downsides too. Let us take a look at this problem in the following lines.

What is a mulch foil?

There are several names for a mulching foil. Some stores may call it a geotextile, black film or woven mulch film. You will often see “environment friendly” written on the packaging, but in reality the opposite is true. The raw material used for the production of these foils or textiles is oil, specifically polypropylene. Let us see how mulch foil works.

It will not stop weeds from growing

Even if you buy a heavy duty foil, it will not stop weeds from growing in the long run. To make it work for a long time you would have to apply herbicide before laying the foil down, but of course no one wants that. Another thing is that seeds flying around will eventually stick to the fabric or foil and will start to grow through the foil. It seems that you will have to manually remove weeds from beds from time to time anyway.

Photo: Radek Štěpán

Suffering soil

The soil under the foil suffers a lot. Much needed organic material flying around cannot reach the soil. Organic material is excellent food for earthworms and you need earthworms. Further, the soil also does not get the necessary moisture and dries out completely and mostly everything underneath the foil will disappear.

No environment-friendly solution

It is simple. Petroleum products do not belong in your garden.

Rhizome propagation is impossible

Perennials near the foil will not be able to reproduce as there is very limited space to spread rhizomes. This also applies to strawberries.

Photo: Radek Štěpán

There are many alternative options

Yes, there are. Let us name few natural options:

• straw,
• cut grass,
• wood chips from deciduous trees,
• print-free.

Source: petrazahradnici.cz, izahradkar.cz, magazinzahrada.cz

Preview photo: Radek Štěpán