Edging for fruit tree guilds?

I have worked hard to get rid of pasture grass underneath all of my fruit trees. There are 10 of them. My family and I put down newspaper and then bark all around them in a circle. Boy is it hard keeping the grass surrounding them from invading. We spend so much time weeding, we don't seem to have alot of time to get beneficials planted inside the guild.

Anyway, does anyone here do the plastic edging in circles or use something else to keep grass at bay? Aren't these circles supposed to be about the size of the drip line? The grass just keeps encroaching...

I have various onion relatives around my apple trees. Garlic Chives, Allium tuberosum, grows the fastest and makes the most solid carpet. Is also edible.

Thanks Idle Dreamer, but the solid carpet makes me think it may spread like a groundcover throughout pasture. My yarrow did that and is all over in large solid swaths. I am also grazing several sheep in this pasture.

Beth Mouse wrote:I have worked hard to get rid of pasture grass underneath all of my fruit trees. There are 10 of them. My family and I put down newspaper and then bark all around them in a circle. Boy is it hard keeping the grass surrounding them from invading. We spend so much time weeding, we don't seem to have alot of time to get beneficials planted inside the guild.

Anyway, does anyone here do the plastic edging in circles or use something else to keep grass at bay? Aren't these circles supposed to be about the size of the drip line? The grass just keeps encroaching...

Grass really is persistent! I have had a bit of success with a physical barrier: edging bricks and railway sleepers in my case. I believe some people don't like railway sleepers because of possible contamination--though for me they have been better than keeping grass out than bricks.

If you can, I would pile on the mulch as high as possible, 6-8 inches deep or more, and be careful not to put the mulch that high right up against the fruit trees. Some kind of barrier or edging, combined with deep mulch around the drip line would probably be more effective than just one or the other. I think once your other plants inside get established, there should be less grass pressure.