I agree with Elizabeth landscape cloth is better then black plastic, Your soil is alive with micro organisums which help to keep plants healthy, when you cut off air they start to die off.Organic growers were i live dont use plastic but If they did they would remove it as soon as possible to let soil breath, It has Its uses [sweetpotatos, sqush, ect ]to warm soil but as permant mulch it will distroy the soil In a couple years of continual use, I found newspaper work the best in short term.(posted 9005 days ago)