Can you use old carpet as weed mat in the garden?

my Neighbor put it it and it stinks after two weeks, I cannot even stand near it, it’s that bad😖

I have been using old carpet in my vegetable garden as a weed barrier for years and I love it. It is easy to move around, rarely gets blown away by the wind even without staking or weights and is comfortable to sit on when planting, weeding or harvesting. You don't have to weed before placing the carpet. Weeds die when covered. I kill weeds all the time by covering with carpet. Saves lots of time and energy. I use drip lines so the water is added under the carpet so I'm not sure about watering on top of the carpet. When I plant carrots, I sow the seeds, water the soil well, place carpet over the whole area then water over the carpet until it's saturated. After about a week, I start peeking under a corner daily until I see tiny carrots sprouting then remove the carpet. I have great success with this planting method. Last year I harvested about 350 lbs of carrots. Because the seeds are so tiny and planted so shallow its difficult to keep them moist consistently long enough in our dry, desert climate. Carpet is worth its weight in gold. I use it mostly on the pathways where I walk. It sometimes gets blown by the wind when it hasn't been there long but after it gets wet and sticks to the soil it stays in place. A little tug when you're ready to move it and it releases from the soil easily. Underneath there are zero weeds and lots of good worms and bugs. I plant multiple blocks of corn in succession plantings every 2-3 weeks. I cover the area until time to plant and when I pull back the carpet at planting time, it is usually weed free and ready to go. I think weed seeds probably sprout under there and die because my patch, done this way, needs very little weeding the rest of the summer. After I harvest something and there is a bare spot, I just throw on a small scrap to cover until I'm ready to plant something else. The plant matter does and decomposes under the carpet so it helps with composting as well. Carpet is the best secret to success in the garden I've ever found. I absolutely love it! And it's free!!!

I have used this and it works well. About 20 years ago when we replaced our carpet I used the old carpet as a form of weed control outside of our grilling area. Dug down about 3 inches all the way around that area. Laid down the old carpet cut to size. It allows the water to pass thru and has kept that area almost weed free for over 2 decades now. But if there are a few weeds to pop up remove them immediately.