If weeds are making gardening more of a chore than a pleasure, a garden mat might be what you need. What's that? A garden mat, sometimes called landscape fabric, is a sheet of organic or synthetic material that lies over the soil of your garden and acts as a barrier for weeds. A garden mat can also help your soil retain moisture and warmth, depending on your garden's needs. But there are a lot of products out there. How do you choose?
When selecting a garden mat for your garden or raised bed, you’ll need to take into consideration several things: where your garden is, your climate, and your garden's growing conditions. Your budget and what you want to grow will also influence your decision. Not sure how to get started? Why not have a look at some of our favorites?
Questions to Ask Before Buying a Garden Mat
There are many options for garden mats, but it’s important to choose the right one for your growing space. The wrong mat won’t stay in place. It may also trap water at your plant’s roots, or cause other problems. If you're looking for the best garden mat for your garden, you should consider a few crucial factors.
How much sun does your garden receive?
What about soil quality?
What are you growing?
Garden Mats: The Basics
A garden mat, or landscape fabric, is a long roll of fabric, plastic, or polypropylene, which is laid over a garden or raised bed. It typically comes in a roll, so that you can customize it to fit your space.
How does a garden mat work?
Where can you buy a garden mat?
Our Top 10 Garden Mats
The best mat for your garden will depend upon your particular growing conditions. These are our favorites, in no particular order.
- Sold on Amazon
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.
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- DISCOVER THE PROFESSIONAL GARDENING SOLUTION – The ECOgardener ultimate pro weed barrier landscape fabric is here to...
- SUPER-EASY TO INSTALL & SET-UP – You don’t have to be an expert or call in expensive professionals in order to set...
- YOUR SOIL HAS VALUE & WE KNOW IT – Our exclusive garden weed control mat is designed to let air and water through,...
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.
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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.
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- HEAVY DUTY PRO SERIES* 33% HEAVIER COMPARED TO OTHERS
- Enviromentally Friendly Fabric in the 20 Plus Year Range
- Allows air and water to nourish the soils while keeping weeds out
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.
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- Provides A Barrier To Help Prevent Weeds In Your Mulch Or Stones
- Perfect For Flower Beds, Paths And Walkways
- Allows Air And Water Penetration
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.
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- Ultimate in UV protection
- Long term durability
- Strong and durable fabrics for weed prevention
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.
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- Landscape fabric
- 15 year protection
- Use in permanent landscape and garden areas
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.
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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.
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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.
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- Meet your reliable partner in Do-It-Yourself projects: Terrahome Heavy Duty Anti-Weed Landscape products guarantee...
- Converted in the U.S. by Thrace Linq. All Terrahome fabrics are environmentally friendly. Produced exclusively from...
- Woven, needle–punched fabric for Weed Control and Soil Separation
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.
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Our Verdict: The Best Garden Mat
We tried to pick a garden mat that would work for urban gardeners who had a variety of soil and growing conditions. For that reason, we ruled out garden mats that were best for only one type of soil.
Preen Landscape Weed-Control Fabric is our top pick for the best garden mat. It’s priced at the lower end of the range and is strong and durable without being soil-specific. The manufacturer offers an excellent guarantee.
While it’s a smaller width, the fabric can be overlapped to cover more space. It’s longer than the Sta-Green, Easy Gardener, Scott’s Weedout, and Easy-Plant Weed Block Mulch garden mats, but not so long that an urban gardener might have a lot left over. You'll have to choose the best garden mat for your garden, but this is a great, all-purpose option.
Last update on 2021-04-15 at 12:45 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API