A gardener on TikTok felt compelled to create a public service announcement after finding a "nightmare" product buried in their yard for over two decades.
The scoop
The Cottage Peach (@thecottagepeach) revealed the disturbing discovery of landscape fabric in the yard from a previous owner. That means the patch of it she found is at least 23 years old.
@thecottagepeach This stuff doesn't even work and you'll just end up with more problems than you started with if you use it 😩 the patch I found here is from before we lived here, so it's over 23 years old 😳 #gardeningday #gardeningproblems #gardeningtools #gardenweeds #gardenmistakes #beginnergardeningtips ♬ original sound - The Cottage Peach
As the video begins, she is seen removing a black sheet of it. She immediately vents her frustration and calls the fabric "a joke" before pointing out that "it doesn't even work the way it's supposed to."
In the video, she calls out its inefficacy at suppressing weeds, which is also on display. Instead, she says it prevents water and nutrients from reaching the soil, causes microplastic pollution, and compacts the soil. Fortunately, she has an alternative for gardeners, which she demonstrates on-screen.
"Cardboard and wood chips are a natural alternative that works way better without all these issues," she advises as the video concludes.
How it's helping
First of all, The Cottage Peach's hack gets you away from landscape fabric, which is a long-term loser as other gardeners have shared. While it might temporarily block weeds, eventually it will frustratingly act as an anchor for them.
Then there are the negative consequences she mentioned, including increased soil temperature, reduced oxygen flow, harm to beneficial organisms like earthworms, and soil compaction.
Landscape fabric is made of plastic, which also means she is correct in pointing out that it can leach microplastics that end up in your edible plants grown in the area, in the water, and in the nearby soil.
Cardboard and wood chips are biodegradable and can help improve soil quality without the negative impacts on bugs and other parts of the ecosystem. The method isn't perfect for all situations, so it's worth checking if your setup is right for it, as The Oregonian broke down.
Still, it's clear that landscape fabric is a major pain to remove and can take away from the benefits of gardening. Those include saving money on produce, enjoying better-tasting fruits and vegetables, and improving both mental and physical health.
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Mowing the lawn 🏡 What everyone's saying
Many viewers reacted positively to The Cottage Peach's hack, and even more had horror stories with the product.
"Oh man," one reacted. "I wish I would have known this sooner."
"The previous owner of my home did that, and it's been absolutely terrible to try to remove," another homeowner empathized.
"Oh my god i found plastic sheeting buried 6in under my yard and then another strip of plastic 6in below THAT," an unfortunate user wrote.
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