Landscaping Fabric: For Low-Maintenance, Weed-Free Gravel Gardens

Key Takeaways

• From hundreds of installations, I’ve found that using a landscaping fabric is the easiest way to achieve weed-free results for years.
• For planted borders or gardens, my personal weed-suppressing preference is mulching – mostly due to the beneficial properties of mulch.
• My eco-conscious clients choose alternatives such as jute and coir, although they require more frequent replacement and aren’t always practical from my experience.
• I never recommend non-woven landscaping fabrics for driveways or traffic area installations – they usually don’t last.
• For soakaways and French drains I recommend non-woven, perforated fabric – it’s superior permeability makes it the best type of filter.

Landscaping fabric plays a significant role in many low-maintenance garden and landscaping projects. It is an essential tool and generally what goes under garden stones for many professional landscapers. While its primary function is to block weed growth, it can also be effective in keeping gravel separated from the soil as well as providing stabilisation of the base.

Nevertheless, they do have their drawbacks, especially in the way that they can adversely affect the soil structure. The good news is that there are options available for everybody’s preference from eco-friendly burlap right through to thick black polypropylene. While it’s a popular choice for decorative gravel gardens and lighter-traffic areas, simple mulching is often my recommendation to clients.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through the different alternatives available, exactly when and how to use landscaping fabric, and the simple step-by-step method I recommend for planting through it. If you are installing a driveway or traffic area such as a gravel path, you need the tough stuff – see our dedicated guide here: Heavy-Duty Weed Membrane – The Secret to Low-Maintenance Gravel Gardens and Driveways.

Understanding the Different Types of Landscaping Fabric

Landscaping fabrics come under many names, such as weed control fabric, garden membrane, geo-textile, but they generally fall into four main types:

• Non-woven (felt-like): Soft, flexible, and highly permeable. Excellent drainage and great for planting beds and lighter paths.
• Perforated: Punched with small holes for superior water flow while still blocking weeds.
• Eco-friendly: If you prefer a more natural approach, jute or coir-based fabrics are available.
• Woven: Stronger and more durable. These sit closer to the heavy-duty membranes I recommend for driveways.

The non-woven types of landscaping fabric range from 50gsm up to 300gsm. For most DIY gravel gardens and borders, a good-quality non-woven or perforated landscape fabric (around 100–150gsm) strikes the perfect balance. It’s easy to cut and shape around plants, and it won’t show through if a little gravel shifts. Perforated and non-woven types also offer the best drainage.

Eco-friendly Weed Membrane

I titled this eco-friendly weed membrane because weed suppression is about all it can do, but it doesn’t really do it that well. Still, if you prefer a natural approach, look for jute or coir-based fabrics. These biodegrade over time and enrich the soil, so they won’t last as long as polypropylene versions. While they’re a lovely choice for vegetable plots or freshly planted areas on one hand, just mulching with bark or wood chip would do the trick and cost a lot less.

Burlap Rolls

Personally, I’m not a fan of burlap (hessian) under gravel. While it can suppress weeds reasonably well when placed under any mulch, it’s quite expensive for the results. Depending on thickness, it will most likely break down within a year or two and leave you with a messy layer that makes weeding difficult – as you pull out weeds, soil usually comes up through the chippings and disturbs the surface. That’s why I never use it with decorative gravel.

Other simple solutions, such as laying newspaper or cardboard under a layer of mulch, can also block weeds effectively, although they usually decompose within a year and will need replacing.

Sunlight Blocking: Does the Colour of Your Landscaping Fabric Matter?

One question that often comes up is whether the colour of the fabric affects how well it stops weeds. The short answer is yes, and it’s all about how effectively it blocks sunlight from reaching the soil. Weed seeds need light to germinate. That’s why the main job of any good landscaping fabric is to create a dark environment underneath. Here’s the clear breakdown based of these different materials:

• Black or dark-coloured fabrics: These are excellent at blocking sunlight. They absorb or stop nearly all light from getting through, making them the most reliable choice for long-term weed control under gravel, slate chippings, or mulch.
• White or light-coloured fabrics: These let significantly more light pass through which is better for the soil health but does have its obvious downsides if we control is your primary goal.

Pro tip: For maximum weed suppression, I usually choose a black poly fabric, as it blocks sunlight most effectively. However, when planting through it under pale stones, I sometimes opt for white or lighter fabric instead. It stays virtually hidden if any gravel shifts, and with a good 5 to 7.5cm layer of aggregates on top, it still does a solid job for the right project.

Pros and Cons of Using Landscaping Fabric

Landscaping fabric can be a useful tool in the right situation, but it’s not ideal for every garden project, particularly where young or vulnerable plants are involved. Here are the main pros and cons to help you decide.

Pros

• Effective initial weed control: It blocks sunlight from reaching the soil, preventing many weed seeds from germinating and reducing the need for chemical herbicides early on.
• Soil moisture retention: By reducing evaporation, it helps keep soil damp during our dry summers, which can mean less watering for established plants. However, it can have an adverse effect, which I cover below.
• Erosion control: On slopes or around rockeries, it can help stabilise the soil and keep decorative aggregates from shifting.
• Keeps aggregates clean: In paths, driveways, and patios, it creates a clear separation between soil and stone, preventing a muddy mix over time.
• Cost-effective coverage: A single roll can cover a large area at a very affordable price.

Cons

Despite the benefits, landscaping fabric has some notable downsides, especially in planted gardens:

• Disrupted water movement: I’ve found that it can make it harder for rainwater and irrigation to reach plant roots properly. In heavier soils, it can also trap moisture, increasing the risk of water-logging and root rot.
• Impaired gas exchange and soil health: These fabrics restrict airflow, which can lead to a build-up of the wrong gases around roots. This also reduces beneficial microbial activity and earthworm movement. It can damage the soil underneath.
• Heat retention: The dark fabrics in particular can trap heat in summer, stressing roots, slowing growth or causing dormancy.
• Not weed-proof: Organic matter, dust, and blown-in seeds build up, allowing weeds to germinate above the fabric. Tough weeds eventually also push through, which leads to a far bigger job in the future.
• Maintenance & removal: I have worked on countless projects where degraded plastic or weed fabric posed a big enough challenge that they needed to call a professional to handle it. If you ever wish to change planting, add compost, or refresh the soil later, the fabric gets in the way and can be fiddly (or expensive) to remove. It really is there to stay once it’s been laid.
• Environmental considerations: Synthetic fabrics don’t biodegrade, which is partly why my use of them is limited to non-growing areas. Plus, once they eventually break down, they contribute to micro-plastic pollution.

Bottom line

For non-planted areas like gravel paths or driveways, a good permeable membrane often makes sense and delivers real benefits. In planted gardens with shrubs, perennials, or ornamental grasses, I prefer an organic mulch and spot weeding.

What Do You Put Under Stones in the Garden? When Weed Fabric Still Makes Sense

When clients ask me “What do you put under stones in the garden?”, my answer is: if you are doing a border with established plants, then a lighter 50 to 120gsm fabric will keep weeds at bay for a long time, especially with gravel on top. It can also make sense for larger trees and shrubs if your main goal is super-low maintenance.

Can You Put Stones Directly onto Soil?

It depends on the application. For lighter-traffic areas, laying decorative stone straight onto prepared soil is often fine – it really comes down to personal preference. In planted decorative gravel gardens, I get excellent results without any fabric by using a thicker 7.5cm layer of decorative stone, installing good edging, and doing occasional light weeding or adding organic mulch around the plants. My goal is always a beautiful, low-maintenance space, and sometimes that means keeping things natural and letting the aggregates, mulch, and plants do most of the work.

When Landscaping Fabric Might Not Be Best

Landscaping fabric isn’t perfect for every garden project, and many experienced gardeners now prefer to skip it in planted areas. Here’s why it can cause more headaches than it solves over time:

• It can disrupt water movement, making it harder for rain or irrigation to reach plant roots properly. In our UK climate, this sometimes leads to dry spots or, in heavier soils, trapped moisture and root rot.
• The fabric also limits gas exchange in the soil. Plant roots and beneficial microbes need oxygen and proper airflow and a barrier can restrict this, leaving soil less healthy and plants under stress.
• All fabrics – particularly the dark stuff – can trap extra heat around roots during warm months, which isn’t ideal for many plants.
• Longer term, weeds still find their way in from above (seeds settle in gravel dust or mulch), and removing or adjusting the fabric later becomes a real chore if you want to change planting or improve the soil.

On loamy or heavy soils, where topped-up weeds are rarely a problem, it is often easier – from a planting perspective – to create the gravel garden without a membrane. This approach is particularly beneficial on heavy soils, as the stones from the gravel that gradually work their way into the ground will help aerate and lighten the soil over the years. The other case is a design decision rather than a material one, covered in low maintenance gravel garden designs: a self-seeding scheme and a fabric scheme are two different gardens, and you pick one at the drawing stage.

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Step-By-Step Planting with Landscaping Fabric

If the gravel is already down and you are adding plants to it, planting into gravel covers that job, including what to do when you find hardcore or plastic underneath. If you want to plant with a membrane, follow these steps:

1. Roll out the membrane over the prepared soil and pin it down at regular intervals with strong wire ‘hairpins’ to prevent it from moving as you work. Cut an X-shape at each planting position.
2. Use a trowel to lift out soil at each planting space. Set the well-watered plants in the ground at their original soil level. Replace the soil around them, ensuring there are no air pockets, and water thoroughly again.
3. Return the four flaps to their original positions and trim off the tips if they are pressing against the bases of the plants.
4. When all planting is completed, cover the entire area with a 5 to 7.5cm layer of gravel.

Drainage: The Difference Between Filter Fabric & Landscape Fabric

While both filter fabric and landscape fabric allow water to pass through while holding back unwanted materials, they serve different primary purposes.

• Landscape fabric is designed to suppress weeds in gardens, paths, and gravel areas.
• Filter fabric, on the other hand, is designed for drainage projects such as French drains, retaining walls, or soakaway systems. It is usually a non-woven or perforated geotextile that allows fine sediment to pass as the water flows through, preventing clogging.

Soakaway Wrapping

For wrapping a soakaway crate, the best choice is around 100gsm. This offers high permeability for fast water drainage while stopping soil particles from entering and blocking the crate. It is often sold as “soakaway wrap” or “drainage geotextile” (e.g., Draintex) and should fully line the excavation and wrap the crates. Check our article: What is a Soakaway for details.

Next Steps

Landscaping fabric works well for pure gravel paths and driveways, but in planted decorative gardens it can interfere with soil health and long-term plant growth. A thick 7.5cm layer of your chosen aggregates often does the job naturally. For planted areas, a lot gardeners prefer using bark, wood chip or some kind of organic mulch around plants instead – it suppresses weeds, retains moisture, and improves the soil as it breaks down. Ready to try mulch? Browse our quality range of bark and wood chip and enjoy easy nationwide delivery.

If you would rather talk your landscape fabric through with a person, ring Outdoor Aggregates on 0330 043 7585. The office is open 7am to 7pm, seven days a week.

Have you used landscape fabric in your garden? Did it earn its keep, or did the weeds find a way through? Love to hear in the comments.

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