Another Bermuda Question

Hey y’all. I am in need of some help dealing with Bermuda grass in the walkways of our garden patch. I know similar questions have been asked before about this but I do feel like I have specific questions that haven’t been answered yet at least from what my searching has given me, so I would appreciate any advice! Also this might be a little long winded so thanks to anyone for sticking w me.

About four years ago, I converted a section of our Bermuda yard to a garden, some in ground beds, some raised beds, hugels etc. I cardboarded pretty heavily the grass, then wood chipped it about six inches. As all of that broke down, the Bermuda started growing in the pathways where the wood chips were, I kept on weeding for about a year or two and continued covering w wood chips but I spent more time weeding the pathways instead of the beds so I got to a point where I just started mowing the pathways instead, which did seem to work, and of course now almost all of the paths are completely Bermuda again!

The Bermuda has stayed for the most part out of the beds, creeping up only a little on the edges where the soil might be a little lower. And also a large section of the garden isn’t really affected by the Bermuda, just the areas closest to the original yard. So my idea was that if I could keep the Bermuda from creeping in, I might be able to slowly eradicate it from the garden and since no new Bermuda will get in, it would eventually be free of it. So I planted a hedgerow of comfrey around the entire thing and I was thinking of getting some heavy duty weed fabric that I could use for the paths, cover w wood chips (mostly for aesthetic reasons) and every year or so, as the wood chips break down, clear them out and use them elsewhere and replace w fresh wood chips, making sure the fabric is still intact, laborious but less so than constantly weeding the paths.

OR I could just continue to mow the paths, and pray that it doesn’t invade the beds and eventually take over everything which I assume it will do.

Please any advice would be so helpful!

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.

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!  

The best thing I ever did to deal with Bermuda grass was MOVE TO THE NEXT COUNTY TO GET AWAY FROM IT! Rough stuff, as you well know. I had to completely de-sod where I build my beds and even then those runners climbed up, around, and through.
I resorted to buying a big roll of "white black" plastic. As it sounds, white on one side, black on the other. Prep your beds, roll it out white-side-up, and cut small holes to plant through. That was the only way I found to keep my beds weed and Bermuda free. I ran irrigation tape underneath.

I'm going to be the odd ball on permies. Weed cloth is very un-permies, and most here don't like it. I like it for walk ways.  The trick is to use a good quality weed cloth.  I like the cloth I get at Sam's club.  I have tried many variations to keep my walk ways free of Bermuda grass, and other weeds.  Nothing is 100%.  For me the best has been the lay weed cloth, then cardboard, then 6 or more inches of wood chips.  This seems to last the longest. I think the cardboard helps protect the weed cloth from getting holes which allows weeds to pop through.
I have tried plastic, and it didn't last any longer than the weed cloth, and it doesn't allow water to go through.
On the other hand if you don't mind mowing, like that look, that is a solution as well.  I think as long as you keep an eye on the runners, you should be able to keep it out of your garden.
Good luck with what ever you choose. Bermuda is the bain of my existence as well.

Years ago I had a problem where Bermuda grass appeared in my lawn.  I tried pulling and spraying and digging and nothing worked.  My researched showed me that Bermuda grass has roots that go about 6 feet deep and even if you kill the top or pull the top the roots will work their way up and sprout again.  It is near impossible to get rid of Bermuda grass.  Maybe there is a way, I wish you luck but prepare for the worst.