I just put down black visquene (very strong, thick, plastic sheeting), available at Lowes & Home Depot. Then put down my blue tarp. No problems with grow through at all. After I got the pool up, we put down wood chips all around the pool with an area of pavers for the ladder and to provide a sort of decking. My friend also built a large towel/swim gear tree out of a 4x4 post mounted to 2x4's as a base. He then drove large spikes into the 4x4 all around it to hold stuff.