Homeowner met with urgent warnings after sharing photo of dangerous yard feature: 'Should be banned'

Gardeners on Reddit are uniting in their distaste for a once-popular, now taboo, landscaping technique: the use of weed membranes. Weed membranes, also known as landscape fabric, are often (but not always) a thick sheet of plastic meant to stop weeds from sprouting by covering them.

A post in the r/GardeningUK subreddit warned users that the synthetic fabric actively harms gardens.

The poster reached out to the community for advice, detailing how their garden plants were struggling after installing weed membrane, stating: "On further investigation it seems the membrane is almost completely waterproof… water just beads up and runs off."

Fellow Redditors responded by noting that the weed membranes are hydrophobic because they are made from dirty energy sources such as coal, crude oil, and natural gas.

"Yeah it's almost like it's a sheet of plastic or something," one commented. 

Like the top-rated comment, others offered solutions: "Rip the whole thing up. Idk why anyone uses this stuff. Its bad for the eco system and doesn't even stop weeds. Ironically [just] a layer of plain wood chip mulch works so much better." 

Many of the solutions mentioned alternatives for weed protection that decompose, such as cardboard or mulch, and some cited their concerns about microplastics. Microplastics in gardens are of extra concern to those who grow fruits and vegetables, as researchers have found that landscape fabrics often leach microplastics into soil.

"Such awful stuff," one concerned commenter wrote. "Should be banned."

Natural landscaping techniques offer alternatives to weed membranes, and using alternatives such as burlap to curb weeds has been a tried-and-true method for many.

Instead of opting for plastic membranes, gardeners can create dense, layered gardens with compatible plants, ground covers, border plantings, and locally sourced mulches to suppress weeds, protect soil, and conserve water. 

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Natural gardens are better options for both gardeners and local ecosystems, and they can prevent plastic from ending up in people's food, water, and precious plants.

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