The only way to be weedeater free, is to hire a lawn service, or live in the country.

I'm too cheap & picky for a lawnservice, but I do live in the country. Still have flower beds with edging though that requires something.

A friend of mine laid a brick edging right at the soil level to keep the weeds out of her flowerbeds. I can't say it worked real well because Bermudagrass would grow through the holes in the bricks or between them to get to the other side, but it wasn't noticeable at all. I can't imagine not having to use some sort of trimmer to keep the grass out of the flowerbeds. Sounds like too much work. Even if you use the vinegar, you still have to reapply and risk getting it on the good plants, especially if there is the slightest breeze.

I tried and was comfounded by that blasted bermuda that just wont DIE DIE DIE!!!!! PJ

I don't weed eat or mow, and I don't have one of those strips to keep the grass from creeping over. But I lay down boxes with mulch on top of them at the edges of the beds and when the bermuda creeps over then I spray it with "Grass B Gone" or any other grass killer that has fluazifop (sp?) as the main ingredient. It kills grass but not the ornamentals.
Also, I made the beds curved in a way that the mower would easily hug the curves.
PJ, if you paint undiluted roundup onto the bermuda it will die real quickly. I say paint it on because spraying it will often drift onto the other plants. Or you could use the GrassBGone, but large quantities would be needed because like you said, bermuda doesn't want to die.

I'm organic as well! I did the lasangna method but the grass had the last word. So I allowed it to get overrun with clover. Clover chokes out bermuda and adds nitrogen to the soil. It's taking some time to get there tho.PJ

IF you have mostly shade, and IF you could "remove" your runner grass, and IF you were willing/able to water very regularly in the summer, fescue is beautiful, disease free, and no edging is required because it doesn't runner. It is green all winter. In fact you mow more in the winter, and not very much during the hot summer when you'd rather not be out mowing, anyway. You reseed in the fall, but that's just like throwing out fertilizer.

I LOVED my fescue lawn but had to give it up because I ended up with too much sun and not enough water.

I don't know what kind of weedeater you are using, but I have a couple of rechargeable, very lightweight ones. I got the first one on sale at Lowe's for $35, can't remember the second one. They work very well.

The charge lasts longer than I do - and will edge the whole yard.

I used to have a neighbor who had a motorized edger. You pushed it kind of like a mower. It was much smaller than a mower, though. It had wheels, of course, and on one side it had a spinning cutter that made a nice sharp edge every where he used it. If I didn't have plastic edging around my beds, I would get one. Oh, and he had St. Augustine grass and managed to keep it at bay with that thing. Sorry I don't know the name of that machine.

I looked for that pickling vinegar at the store yesterday & didn't find any, but I'll keep looking. I've never seen weeds as bad as I have them this year, and they started before our recent flood.

Denise, I tried that brick edging & it worked for keeping the grass at the same level, but didn't keep the grass from creeping over the brick. I had to use an edge cutter (I don't know what that tool is called) constantly & that was more work than a weedeater.

cweathersby, do you put new boxes & mulch down every year? I did that last year in one garden & it looked great last year but this year is looking weedy fast. After all the rain, most of the weeds just pulled right up, but not the bermuda. I'm thinking of doing that in a new bed I'm creating & wondered if the weeds will pop through the hole where I plant flowers?

txgardenlady, I'm going to Lowe's in a bit, I'll look for that rechargeable weedeater. I tried using the gas weedeater last night but it's just too much for me.

trsinc, I have a neighbor with one of those things, I think. I've seen him do the fence line between us & asked his wife what it was. She said it was expensive though.

marti8a,
I had good success with planting mondo grass very densely as a border. You go have to pull the Bermuda that invades, but the mondo held it's own pretty well. Only took 30 minutes to clear my 10 ft diameter bed maybe once a month. I was able to mow around the mondo with the mower and if I cut a bit...no big loss, it grows back quite well.

Pam

Marti - they have it at Green Garden Nursery in Duncanville, by Cox market.

Thanks txgardenlady. I never think to go there.

It's called, simply enough, an "edger".

I would think that even without runner grass, you'd still need to edge - along the beds, along the house, around trees, etc, where the mower just doesn't get close enough. Those of you who don't use edging tools, what do you do?

I use edging tools, roopooroo, don't know of another way. For me, it is still better than pulling grass out of the beds.

The box and mulch method seems to work for about 2 years. I forgot to mention though - my beds aren't normal. I make garden "rooms" so the part that meets the grass usually has big shrubs on that side instead of low growing perennials. The low growing stuff is on the inside of the rooms, so there's no grass to jump into the bed. It's just pathways of cardboard and mulch once you are inside the rooms.
That probably didn't make sense, but I can't explain it very well.

My neighbor only weedeats her edges every 4-5 weeks. She has st. augustine grass and along the edges of her beds, sidewalks & driveway she has about a 4" wide dirt mini-ditch. I don't now what to call it. After 4-5 weeks she'll weed eat that little ditch back to dirt. Her yard always looks pristine. Most her flowers,in the ground & in planters are silk. She changes them out with the seasons. Sounds tacky, but like I said, her yard is perfect looking all the time. Under a big beautiful pecan tree she has a raised bed with silk ferns in it and it really is pretty.

Well, at least, she won't have to worry about the freeze or frost this week-end, will she, Bev????? LOL

I heard at a herb garden club meeting last fall that bermuda doesn't like artemesia. If you edge with artemesia, the bermuda won't invade. I have no idea if this is true or why it would work but I have some bare spots and think I'll try it.

It's a bummer that I can't remember if it's a particular variety. Guess I'll have samples of all that the nursery has. LOL

txgardenlady, what is the brand of your rechargeable weedeater? I went to Lowe's today & they had two, Black & Decker, just under $100, and their store brand, but made by B&D, just under $70.

Don't own a weedeater, edger or lawnmower. Got rid of all the grass. Plants everywhere. There are now spots I don't even have to weed cause the plants are thick enough to keep the weeds out.
Just say no to lawns!
Tally HO!

I wish I could Tally, but have to keep dh (digging husband) happy if I want to keep planting things.

I agree with beachplant! I am working on getting rid of all the grass, but DH is a man and grass is a main-man-thing. Grass and pecan trees. So I guess we will always have some grass.

Which is good, as we just got another mower. a 21horse, 46" cut riding mower/tractor. And we don't have any grass, except for a little in the front yard, a little in the back yard, and the outside edge by the street! Ane we can't get this monster in the back yard or the front yard. So all it is good for is the strip by the street.

Makes my head hurt.

Janie

Janie......that is too funny! Why would he get a lawn mower he can't get in the yard? Guess it's another "man" thing!

Janie,
Maybe this is his way of breaking the news that you are moving to the country ;-)

Pam

What's he gonna do if he comes home and the grass is gone? Run away? Dig it up and put in a peach tree while he's gone.
Tally HO!

or hand him the edger ;-) I am devious

Pam