Plastic Ground Cover

In El Paso, it is quite common to use impermeable plastic as a ground cover in hopes of keeping down the weeds. The plastic is then covered with a coarse gravel mulch to make it more attractive. My house came with this plastic and gravel mulch in the front yard, the side yards, and around the perimeter of the back yard.

In preparing the garden for the birds, I decided to remove this plastic. Since the area was already weedy, I was worried that taking the plastic out would cause even more weeding difficulties. On the other hand, I felt it was necessary to remove it for the health of the plants and for improved drainage during the summer rains.

It's been about two months since planting that garden, and the weeding has been quite minimal. What few weeds there have been were very easily removed by hand. I believe this is because removing the plastic gave me a better opportunity to remove all the Bermuda grass rhizomes in the initial weeding before planting.

With the beginning of summer rains, we are now in all-out growing season for the Bermuda grass. I was a bit discouraged when I saw a few blades of grass in this new garden, but I wasn't about to give up easily in this area that is currently my favorite in the landscape. I went for my trowel but found I didn't even need it. The stray blades of grass were from seeds, and they hadn't yet grown their extensive network of rhizomes and roots; they were quite easy to pull out by hand.

It is a difficult task, but I've been removing the plastic from other areas of the landscape and have had similar results. Gardener or not, I think if one is able to do some rather easy weed pulling on a weekly basis, impermeable plastic is best avoided.