# Creating Flowebed, quick weed prevention question.



## SPB903 (Aug 8, 2018)

I will be creating a small 12'x3' flower bed topped with mulch. I was going to use Preen for weed control but I have some Sta-Green Crab Ex Plus laying around (Prodiamine). Can I save some $ and use the Sta-Green or just go with Preen? Thanks!


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## mak474 (Mar 15, 2019)

Personally, I always put down the weed barrier mat on any flower bed, then fill with mulch or rock. Its a little extra work but it prevents a large majority of the weeds and prevents your rock or mulch from sinking down into the soil. Second, if you can I personally prefer to use more natural methods of killing weeds in my mulch/rock beds. I use boiling water to kill off weeds. Cover your flowers with buckets but make sure not to pour right next to them either. If you have a slope that would carry the boiling water right into a flower don't pour up stream from it. Then the rest I just pull by hand. The weed barrier mat should prevent most of them but the ones that do pop up are easy to pull if you move the rock or mulch around a bit.


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## lobitz68 (Mar 21, 2019)

I would skip the fabric... I am going through the process of pulling mine out and it sucks. Weeds and grass will grow through the mat with zero issue. Last year I put down preen, this year I used prodiamine, Both worked well...


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## Mr McTurf (Jun 21, 2018)

No fabric. After a few years you get a layer of dirt and decomposing plant materials on top and it becomes a nightmare. The only time I use poly is under a rock bed near a house foundation if water getting into your basement is a concern.


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