Landscape fabric below gravel?

[Hbhaska]

I’m wondering if you all put landscape fabric below your gravel. I’m thinking of not putting the fabric as I feel like this would inhibit the breathing of the soil below and suppress the ecosystem - earthworms etc. I don’t mind pulling the weeds out. But my question is what advantage, if any, does the landscape fabric below the gravel provide? Would you put more than a couple of inches of gravel to circumvent absence of landscape fabric? Thank you.

 

[AaronThomas]

I assume you mean on the ground and not in your pots. Landscaping fabric sole purpose is to keep weeds from sprouting up in your garden. It is perforated to allow air and moisture to pass through.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

On the ground it serves multiple purposes.
One purpose is to prevent your gravel from sinking into the earth when you walk on it. Over time, rain and gravity can push/pull your gravel quite deep into the soil, I think half an inch a year on walking paths can be expected, half of that on undisturbed locations. After some 10-15 years or so, depending on your climate and disturbance, most gravel will have sunk to ground level. Or the soil has crept up, depending on how you look at it.
Another purpose is to prevent seeds from weeds and whatnot from entering the soil, but then again, we all know how good inorganic soils can work. After a couple years on the fabric, compost will start occurring in your gravel and weeds will take hold. Earthworms will find their way around it no matter what. They'll be in there within a week or so.
Given that the fabric stops your gravel from sinking in, another advantage is that when you decide you want your gravel scooped out, you don't have to remove those couple of inches of top soil with it if you use fabric.
From what I've seen, the fabric can help soils stay moist for longer. But when unprotected it also can get pretty hot and cause more evaporation.
Due to the pressure of the gravel weighing more than air, you can expect some minor soil compaction below the fabric.

Fungi will grow through it, by the way.

 

[Shibui]

There are several different forms of landscape fabric. None of them stop weeds for long. seeds are still able to germinate and grow above the fabric and smaller roots penetrate to get moisture and nutrients from the soil below. Quite often roots will penetrate and open up the woven fabric enabling the seedlings to grow bigger. I have just finished cutting all the roots of my potted trees that have managed to get through the woven weed mat under my benches.
Landscape fabric is very useful to separate the gravel from the soil below as outlined by Wires above. I did not use it and now have gravely mud pathways between the benches.

 

[Hbhaska]

On the ground it serves multiple purposes.
One purpose is to prevent your gravel from sinking into the earth when you walk on it. Over time, rain and gravity can push/pull your gravel quite deep into the soil, I think half an inch a year on walking paths can be expected, half of that on undisturbed locations. After some 10-15 years or so, depending on your climate and disturbance, most gravel will have sunk to ground level. Or the soil has crept up, depending on how you look at it.
Another purpose is to prevent seeds from weeds and whatnot from entering the soil, but then again, we all know how good inorganic soils can work. After a couple years on the fabric, compost will start occurring in your gravel and weeds will take hold. Earthworms will find their way around it no matter what. They'll be in there within a week or so.
Given that the fabric stops your gravel from sinking in, another advantage is that when you decide you want your gravel scooped out, you don't have to remove those couple of inches of top soil with it if you use fabric.
From what I've seen, the fabric can help soils stay moist for longer. But when unprotected it also can get pretty hot and cause more evaporation.
Due to the pressure of the gravel weighing more than air, you can expect some minor soil compaction below the fabric.

Fungi will grow through it, by the way.

Thank you for explaining the reasoning behind putting landscape fabric below gravel. These are possibly the best explanations I have ever heard and they make sense. Is keeping the soil moist an important consideration in gardens? It sounds like you are saying that this has a cooling effect on ground; presumably this is beneficial to the bonsai areas in general.

Also, Fungi growing through the fabric sounds like a bad thing. Is this one of disadvantages of the fabric? Thank you

 

[Ohmy222]

I always use cardboard boxes. I had better luck with that but it will eventually breakdown I suppose.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Thank you for explaining the reasoning behind putting landscape fabric below gravel. These are possibly the best explanations I have ever heard and they make sense. Is keeping the soil moist an important consideration in gardens? It sounds like you are saying that this has a cooling effect on ground; presumably this is beneficial to the bonsai areas in general.

Also, Fungi growing through the fabric sounds like a bad thing. Is this one of disadvantages of the fabric? Thank you

No, those kind of tarps don't have a cooling effect. The gravel can, if it's saturated with water. When water evaporates, it'll cool down the gravel.

Keeping soil in a garden moist, damp, or wet seems to support more life than a dry soil. So I see it as a positive thing. But if there's nothing growing in said soil, because there's a fabric with rocks on it, you could question the benefits.

Fungi are both good and bad. It depends on the type, the function, and if it's wanted or not.

 

[Cadillactaste]

My entire yard is hardscape...I can't imagine not having it as such with that barrier down under the rocks. The upkeep alone is so easy. I watched my neighbor struggle with their weeds and what not by not having put it down prior to their landscaping. It's just less work in the long run with a few steps in the beginning laying it down.

 

[sorce]

Truth truth, landscape fabric is an "excess money" product.

Useless!

Sorce