Want to choke out the weeds in your garden? Use a fabric groundcover instead of pesticides.

My roses have aphids, my daylilies have rust, my clematis died overnight due to a fungus, and too many of my tomatoes aren't turning from flowers into little green buds, because the bees seem to have left the building. If I started to talk about the weeds that somehow make their way onto my rooftop (industrious little things, to fly up so high), this blog would get really, really long (even more so than usual).

So why won't the bugs and plants that I want show up, when I seem to have plenty of the ones that I'd rather have stay away?

(Oh lord, I could so easily take that as an analogy for so many other things in life, but I will refrain. For the time being, at least.)

It has taken every ounce of willpower I have not to go to my local hardware store, buy every pesticide and herbicide known to humankind, and spray the living daylights out of every square foot of my roof garden. But I guess one has to walk the walk when publicly committed to trying to live a green guru sort of life.

I did, however, make one natural discovery this year that has made the weed thing a bit better for some of my friends and clients - landscape fabric. At UrbanSage (my garden design company), I have gotten to play off of the rooftops a little, doing some work for people who have actual earth in which to plant. And those who put down landscape fabric underneath their mulch are having MUCH less of a weed problem than those who didn't (and who are now spraying nastiness in the form of chemicals). So - if you are trying to combat weeds, consider trying it out - it also retains moisture so that you have to water less often.

As for me and my rooftop woes... I'm taking comfort in the tomatoes that I do have and in the fact that I again have enough mint to support all the NYC restaurants in their mojito-endeavours

Happy gardening to all you gardeners - this is the last landscape/garden tip for a few weeks..

-Heather... off to remove the dead leaves from the rusted daylily...