The net was probably to keep the rocks from settling into the dirt. If the mosquitos like it best, it probably is the wettest. They may have put rocks there because they couldn't get anything to grow there. Have you dug up any of the rocks in the middle to see if it's wet under there? After you finish removing the rocks, you may want to wait until after it rains a bit (or hose it down) to see what happens to the area and if it does collect some water.

My husband thinks it is indeed for grip; that sand by itself just binds together too easily into a not-so-grippy mat. Sounds logical, but I don't know the official reason. One more reason why I hate winter roads!

MAG swaps rock because gardeners - especially the Mid-Atlantic variety - are the nicest folks in the world. I know this firsthand; I am so grateful to all of you for the good wishes, hard work, and company that you've provided after my bout with breast cancer and my accompanying treatments. I will be proud to wear my pink wig to the 2009 spring swap!

"So are you volunteering to pull weeds?" Thanks for the offer, but I'll pass. Willing to help you examine the situation and devise a plan though, more than. If you are serious about doing anything but spraying, I'll be happy to take time to discuss it. We're so close! No single approach will keep any location weed free, and I think we're all smarter than a bunch'o'weeds. Let's sort this out. "Prevent them from going to seed in your yard ... the first couple of years you really have to keep up with the weeds, then it tapers off. " Absolutely! If one has annuals that can be kept from making new seeds, that should reduce next years' invasion drastically. Especially in a new bed, a crop of something unexpected can come up much too numerously for many people to have time to pull individuals. That's not even necessary if the plant can be prevented from making seeds by other means, like weed-trimming during flower formation time, smothering, hoeing, depends on what it is, where it is, but doing something that prevents new seeds from forming is necessary to prevent a repeat. When starting a new bed, I try to keep the planting sparse, so I can see well what is sprouting. Not starting more new bed area than one has time to monitor is helpful. Taking the time to use a degradable smother like newspaper or cardboard is worth it in time saved dealing with weeds later. And get the weeds when they are small sprouts ... " Yes, still on the same page. These are easy to pull, disturb the soil surface so they die, smother, step on them, depends on the particular weed and bed type. "a couple of rounds of spray early in the season does more than fighting mature ones all summer." Oops, we've diverged. When I first saw unwanted sprouts, out they came, while small and it only took seconds. If you're "fighting" weeds with chemicals "all summer," and I'm weed free after pulling/hoeing/smothering those little sprouts from a single effort, who's working harder? IDK but it sounds like I've spent less time and effort. It's too hot to battle weeds in the summer here, and you probably feel the same way about where you live. I'm not trying to chide you, just help you ask yourself some questions, and hopefully spend less time, effort, $, and get better results. What are the weeds? If spraying kills them, why are they there? What you do is up to you, but be honest about the results you're getting from your efforts. Been reading it for so many years, those who keep using RU are the ones who keep 'battling weeds.' Anyone who is spraying anything a 2nd time is working harder than I do, simply by stepping outside the 2nd time. Never been there, but in the baking desert of AZ, how much unwanted growth can there be? I manage w/o chemicals in AL, near FL border, living next to the pic below for years. (The bare spot is from where the abandoned house was finally torn down the day I was taking these pics.) ...