Thats a lot of hard work you put into it and it looks neat and organized. If I were you, I would not be concerned about weeds and grass. Weeds actually serve a purpose, they mine nutrients and also condition the soil. Say you are in sandy loose soil. Nature will bring in weeds that have a shallow yet thick root system. On the other hand, say you have hard compacted soil. Nature will bring in weeds with deep tap roots that will get in there and bust up that soil. Keep in mind that within two years, the root systems on your trees will be well outside of the area covered by your rings. While I think that the mulch rings will keep your roots protected in year #1, I see no benefit in later years. Also, your watering system may not actually be the best set up. Tree roots spread out in search of water. If you provide routine water within a 2' diamater of the tree, the roots are not being encouraged to spread out and develop. For the first year, it should be fine. However, you might want to think about watering further out from the trees. One last thing, I would recommend pulling the mulch back from the trunk of the tree. You could cause the trunk to rot. This post was edited by poolecw on Tue, Jun 10, 14 at 11:42

The two raspberries around here (R occidentalis and idaeus) have mostly 3 leaflets, not five as in the picture. And the thorns aren't as big. Of course that's in NJ, I suspect Tennesee has some species we don't have up here. WW

O.K. this is probably going to start a major controversy but I'm going to tell you what I do in that case. I simply put a layer of black plastic (or clear or whatever plastic) over the offending weeds and cover with mulch. It's like a bad little secret - nobody knows it's there and it's killing the weeds. And yes, I've heard a thousand times before "that will definitly kill your plants. I haven't lost one yet. I have it all around my roses, shrubs, riverbirch, boxwoods etc. I do not do anything like that around the base of camellias. I am very sensitive to any sprays or chemicals - I will occassionally spot treat with round-up but in general I become ill almost immediatly when I am exposed to herbicide or pesticide. Also I do not have the time to hand weed an acre. I have a full-time job and also work the occasional weekend - weeding is not an option. Sooo.... plastic is my friend. I can usually remove the plastic from the bed after a year or so. I know that sounds like a long time but we have some weeds here that it takes that long to kill.

I don't know why people have such trouble keeping grass on one side of a brick or landscape timber edge. Yes it can go under, over, but it usually doesn't. If it goes under, pick up the edge, fix the problem, lay the edge back. I don't spend more than a couple hours per year maintaining hundreds of feet of edge this way, except in low spots or along tree roots where the border material hasn't been making solid contact with the ground. Quickly passing by with an edge trimmer, and occasionally actually bending down to pull an errant piece keeps it from going over. It's a border, not magic, it does need attention. Aiming the grass chute away from beds when mowing is the most important part of keeping grass (& other lawn weeds) out of beds, once an edge is established, IME/O. I like this lady's method (pic below!) Running the mower tires along this should suffice most of the time, might have to occasionally use the edger on some very determined creeping grasses. None of the grasses I've lived with in OH or AL could get under this if they were mowed regularly.