Which Garden Mat is Best for Your Garden? – Tips on How to Choose

If you want true, one-stop easy planting with a garden mat, put this option at the top of your list. It doesn’t just block weeds; it makes it easy to plant with 3” perforated planting holes in the fabric. Gardeners can punch out up to one hundred twenty-five holes, as needed.

The black plastic mulch is 25 feet long and 4 feet wide. Installing a soaker hose under the plastic makes watering easy. It also blocks weeds and retains heat. You can purchase it at Amazon.

An eco-friendly option, this landscape fabric combines woven and non-woven weed barrier fabrics in a two-layered, needle punched design. The woven portion gives the fabric superior strength while the non-woven fabric is great for moisture retention and weed control. It weighs roughly eleven pounds and is easy to carry and cut.

The standard garden mat is longer than the Easy-Plant Weed Block mulch, at one hundred feet, but narrower at just three feet. However, it's available in different lengths and widths. 

If you have a longer space to cover or want one mat to cut into smaller pieces for multiple beds, the DeWitt Sunbelt Ground Cover Weed Barrier will fill your needs. At a whopping three hundred feet long, one roll could do the trick.

It's sold in packs of one, two, three, and four mats. Unlike the EcoGardener Premium Pro Garden Weed Barrier Landscape Fabric it only has one layer of black woven polypropylene. It doesn’t have pre-cut holes, but it does have a pre-printed yellow guide strip every 12" to help you plant in rows.

This garden mat has a five-year guarantee, even in direct sunlight, and is approved for greenhouse and outdoor use. It’s UV stabilized and permeable, so air and moisture can reach your plants.

Do you need a heavier-duty landscape fabric? The PRO Series Weed Control Landscape Fabric is 33 percent heavier compared to other landscape fabrics. It’s strong due to its three layers of laminated spun-bond fabric, which also blocks more light than other fabrics.

According to reviewers, it’s easy to install but difficult to tear. It has hydrophilic water permeability to allow air, water, and nutrients to pass through while still blocking weeds. If you install it properly, the manufacturer guarantees it for twenty years.

Unlike other garden mats on this list, it’s not UV-rated and must be covered with mulch or dirt, or it’ll degrade. If you live in a windy area dandelion and other weed seeds could blow into this covering. Consider this if weed control is your primary reason for buying a garden mat.

Only available in a width of 4 feet by two hundred twenty-five feet. You can get it on Amazon.

Ideal for smaller spaces, one roll of Scott Weedout Landscape Fabric is just 3 feet by 50 feet long. While it’s made of plastic, it’s biodegradable and UV-protected. Reviewers claim that it doesn’t allow a lot of water through so it would be ideal for moist soils.

This is non-woven landscape fabric. UV-resistant, and made of spun-bond material, reviewers note that it’s easy to cut. It does, however, tend to curl at the edges when you’re laying it out. Heavy stakes are a must.

One roll is 3 feet by 50 feet, like the Scotts Weedout above, so it’s better suited for small spaces. You can get it at Amazon.

This is a plastic landscape fabric with a 25-year guarantee. Like the Easy-Plant Weed Block Mulch, it’s four feet wide. It’s thicker and harder to cut than other fabrics, requiring a sharp knife and heavy-duty stakes. You can find it on Amazon.

Many vegetable gardeners prefer their garden mat be chemical-free so that nothing seeps into the soil and reaches the plants, and this product is definitely that. Preen’s landscape fabric is 100 percent spun-bond polypropylene, chemical-free with no UV-protection. One roll measures 3 feet by 150 feet. Reviewers say that it’s strong and durable, stretching easily without tearing. The manufacturer offers a money-back guarantee, as long as their product is correctly installed.

This product has three-layer technology that optimizes air and water flow while blocking weeds. The layers consist of a non-woven layer, a matrix grid core, and another non-woven layer. The matrix core center improves cutting, measuring and stapling to the ground. This garden mat has UV-resistant properties and a lifetime warranty. Reviewers note that it doesn’t curl and is easy to install. It's best for rocky, hard soil.

This environmentally friendly landscape fabric is 100 percent recyclable. Its woven, needle-punched fabric is made of polypropylene and polyethylene. Reviewers like its thickness and budget-friendly price. This is the only landscape fabric available in both three and four-foot widths, though it only comes in a 50-foot length. Terra Home previously only sold to professional landscape architects and companies, this is one of their first direct-to-consumer products.