Tereza Okava wrote:Hi there-
I have a similar setup but put barriers between my beds and my now-grassy-again walkways. In my case, I used old ceramic roofing tiles, which extend maybe 5-6 inches into the ground.
It makes it harder for the grass to re-enter the beds, and I only have to weed every so often.
I do have some internal paths within the beds, and I dump chipped residue, old used wood pellets from my kid`s rats, or wood chips directly on the paths- this makes the grass have to grow on top of this stuff, which makes it looser and easier to pull out.
I think if I were you the question is- can you mow often enough to keep up with the grass? For me (remembering that I live in a year-round-gardening place), the answer is a definite no.
In your position I`d do just what you said, cover your walkways with wood chips, do spot weeding, eventually add new chips. I wouldn`t do the weed fabric, as I`ve always had that turn into a disaster (breakdown into pieces, mostly, although I`ve seen it get caught by the mower too)-- maybe again put down cardboard and put down more chips.
Hey thanks a lot for the response. The trick about using the old roofing tiles as a barrier for roots moving into the beds is a great idea. I think I’ll definitely try to find something like that soon.
I could easily keep up with the mowing, so maybe with the mowing and the tile barrier that would be enough.
I’ve used weed fabric a few times and like you said it never really goes very well. It always disintegrates and the bermuda just grows through it. But I was thinking maybe something heavier, I was even thinking of using a plastic tarp, although even w the wood chips I would be worried about watering pooling up. With my area, it takes a few cubic yards of chips to cover the pathways and since it’s only about a year or so before the Bermuda moves back into the the cardboarded wood chipped area, it would have to be a pretty continuous process of adding chips which I’m not too fond of haha. So this coming season I might just try to keep it mowed w the barriers like you mentioned. Thanks again for the help!