Is weed barrier material worth the cost and work?

Yes, in my opinion. That way any weeds that do appear, and they will, are shallow rooted as they are on top of the barrier and easy to pluck out.

The best way I have found is to put a thick enough layer of mulch down. You need to put a good 3 inches of mulch down. This will prevent weeds from growing through.

I've always had good luck with leaves and one straw. Used a leaf blower that mulches. Put several inches of it in the bed then cover with pine straw. It will deteriorate and fertilize the bed. Just keep piling it up every year. Works better than the weed barrier.

You can also put down a layer of newspaper first, then the leaves and top with pine straw. That works really great.

The weed barrier didn't work on our flower beds. We used black shingles you put on your roof. Leave enough room round flowers to allow water to get to them. Cover with black mulch. No more weeds.

Cheap way is to find a contractor putting a new roof on someones house and use them, instead of buying new ones.

weed barrier did not work for my flower beds weeds come up through them and grew on top of it . I am in the process of taking it up and using something else. I will put newspaper down first

I was putting in our yard just 5 years ago and had heard all about how great the weed barrier material was. I'd tried plastic several years ago and didn't like that. . had tried newspaper too and wasn't completely happy with either of those, but

maybe. . . . ? So we bought some and I worked and put it down. Looked very nice that first month. In that bed, I had planted small Barberry bushes. On top of the material, I spread rock. The bed looked nice and I was very happy. Then later,

here came a weed and then another. I went to pull them and they had penetrated

through the barrier so in order to be able to pull the roots out, it had to be cut.

I wrote to the barrier material company and explained and requested them to honor the "money-back-guarantee" the had offered and never got any satisfaction from them. I would not use barrier material again and would advise you to try it in a relatively small area if you want to 'try it for yourself'.

weed blocker material works best if the weeds under it are destroyed first. then make an X dig your hole plant the plant and replace the barrier flaps. then mulch around the plants. not just a hand full here or there- but deep. 2-3 inches. skip the rock on the growing beds. it just seems to trap weed seed in my area. if you are putting transplants and not seed in, preen is a good thing.