I agree and understand what you’re saying. But keeping on top of Bermuda/fabric will be more work than any other kind of weeding … which the OP is trying to avoid. For me and everyone I know, it was a daily battle.

Jinx, you are hysterical! Thanks for the visual lol

We also made the mistake of planting a trumpet vine and it grew under our siding. Nasty plant !

My hisband worked so hard to make a path between our house and the neighbors. First the landscape cloth, then gravel , then stepping stones finished of woth larger rocks.

It is a weedy mess and pulling weeds out of all of that rock is miserable!

Last summer I was so overwhelmed with weeds in my new planting bed that I cried uncle and planted every bare spot with ground cover. It is so much better this year.

Kristine, aren’t they a nightmare?! (Trumpet vines.) Ugh! I see them growing up trees in our state parks and just think it should be illegal to sell them in my area. Now that’s always a fun thread … ”Should I plant trumpet vines?” 😄

“I also prefer xeriscape plants because they require less water, some can really take the sun and heat, and many of these plants are not favored by Bambi, unless she is especially hungry... then oh well...

Our front yard will be landscaped primarily with xeriscape plants,... the back yard will be lawn and a planter bed with shrubs ( Rusty Blackhaw Viburnum, Carolina Laurel Cherry, Holly etc.)... It will not be lush because space has to be provided for the plants to grow (weed opportunity)....”

Love hearing this, and forgot say …. congratulations on your new house! :)

One last word of advice: get the very best, top quality (not big box store bagged) mulch. Every time I cheap out, get lazy, and buy bagged mulch, I inadvertently start a nutgrass//nutsedge farm. And they’re a real pain in the rump to get rid of. They're the lice of the Texas gardening world. I’m not saying delivered mulch is always guaranteed free of weeds, and every single bag of mulch is weedy, but I’ve had better luck (and better quality) with the delivered types. Definitely bring it up with the landscapers, they’ll know best regarding who sells it in your area.

Jinx-

I have to go back through the CC&R's documents and see what types of grass is allowed. I believe there were 3 or 4. I know St. Augustine, what we have now was a no... I recognized the Bermuda Lawn as a yes, I believe something that begins with an X, Xylosima (?.. that could be a plant...) was okay too... My guess is I will be wandering back into the lawn forum sometime this year too...

Edited to add: thank you:)

Summers-

Thank you for another "glimpse"... :) What is the pretty little white rose with pink blush in your 1st image?

What landscape fabric did you purchase and does it have the tiny holes?

I think I have Bermuda grass in the new garden, among that I also have English ivy and poison ivy under the landscape fabric. I am having poison ivy rash right now. Lol Starting a new garden is to dig holes in the lawn, I am an lazy gardener. In this photo you could see English ivy is coming out a little near some roses, I need to brush RU carefully on their leaves soon, waiting for them to grow out a little away from roses. I know I need to put more mulch in the garden, have to order a truck load later. I will have to add some landscaping roses later to this garden, they are all DAs, and the blooms sleep on the ground. I haven't transferred any roses from the old garden yet. I will be on vacation next week, will see how many roses I could move over. This garden is 2 months old.

Lynn, Just ran outside to check on the rose tags. The light pink one is Lordly Oberon, the one next to it (white) is Dove.

So, I think we will stick with 3-4" of mulch in the back beds, and as they increase in size (grass removal and plantings), we will just add more mulch. I think the same will be done for the raised beds we have planned for the front yard..

Regarding the trees in the front yard... I still do not know what to do... they will be surrounded by grass (possibly Bermuda), of which we will create a stone perimeter for each tree.. beyond that ....

Summers, mine was also great for the 1st couple of years. After that forget it! by the 3rd and 4th year I was struggling to rip it out. Much better to use cardboard and cover that with the very thick layer of mulch. I have wood chips and they work fantastically. My helper is amazed as how there are so few weeds now in the beds where we mulched.

Lynn, I might rethink putting any sort of landscape fabric around your tree roots. They need to breathe ascwell as the worms, and they need the water that the fabric can repel. Also do not pile mulch along the Exposed tree roots or you will kill the trees. Especially avoid volcano mulching! My question is why do you need bricks around the trees? Is your garden very formal? I personally like the natural look of grass growing around the trees. It can be mowed or strimmed. If you can dig large natural looking areas around your trees and mulch those that is also a lovely look if you use trench Edging. What's to think about and so many opinions! It's exciting to have a new place for sure. I wish you luck with all of this. Such a learning experience.

Thanks for letting me know Vap. I will see if I could get a truck load wood chips here.

There is a service called triptrop you can look into that I have used. Also if you see people trimming lines or even if you had free work done ask them if they can just drop the chips off at your house. Usually they like to do that because they saved the tip fee.

@vaporvac-

The stone/brick will "possibly" be used to separate the lawn from the tree space. Some people select that edging material found at the big box and/or landscape supply stores to separate the tree space from the lawn. I may not be properly describing what I have seen... I will see if I can find an image...

Something similar to this, but not exact: https://www.houzz.com/photos/home-and-garden-design-magazine-top-100-designers-portfoio-texas-traditional-landscape-houston-phvw-vp~4197962

versus this: https://www.houzz.com/photos/home-and-garden-design-magazine-top-100-designers-portfoio-texas-mediterranean-landscape-houston-phvw-vp~4197972

The second application/image is far less popular, and from some of what I have seen, more problematic... It appears many homeowners select grass, tree zone separation here... I will get to the bottom as to why etc...

The mounding with installation is common too: https://www.houzz.com/photos/landscaping-photos-we-have-the-best-clients-transitional-landscape-austin-phvw-vp~11286962

But note... the mulch... landscape fabric underneath or no... that is my dilemna...

That mountain of mulch in the last link is just silly and unnecessary. Many builders and landscapers do it because it looks impressive (to some). That’s a mature Yaupon Holly tree — absolutely doesn’t need that amount of mulch. Once established, wouldn’t need any mulch at all.

As far as beds around trees, it’s just personal aesthetic preferences. As long as a tree is planted properly, grass is perfectly fine around it. Beds around them are just if you want them for decorative reasons.

But no tree on earth needs a huge volcano pile of mulch. Again — it’s just optics. Not needed.

ETA: https://www.yourgreenpal.com/blog/6-reasons-why-landscape-fabric-is-a-bad-idea

@Jinx

In the desert, lawns were less common, so we just planted trees where we wanted or placed them in planter beds adjacent to the lawn. Most of the trees in my current neighborhood are larger specimens, but they seem to be mounded like what is shown in the third image, and many have some edging material. The Southern Live Oak trees in the yard where I live do not have the mounding or separation, and the large roots are visible (above the surface) and cutting through the grass in various areas. I do not see the same thing happening in other yards where there is mounding and/or mounding with a raised area and drip lines to water the tree... It makes me wonder if there is something to it other than for "looks"? I do not know but ask questions...

It’s common and normal for Live Oaks to have roots as you descibe. And it’s healthy. Roots need to breathe, burying them under too much mulch can be very harmful. You can ask your landscape company for advice on the best trees, and planting them properly …. and if they are a good company, they’ll know not to pile mulch up that way. I promise you — it IS for looks. It is not necessary.

Live Oaks have extremely sensitive roots and can take years to die from damage done.

Again, using the Yaupon Holly up there as an example … they’re very tough natives here. They do not need to be babied in any way. They definitely don’t need that ridiculous pile of mulch, they’d grow in a pile of busted up concrete. Unscrupulous, or maybe just ignorant, landscapers will try to convince you otherwise.

My objection to the volcano is not just aesthetics. It will kill the tree overtime by suffocating it. Ask me how I know. Sad face It will happen overtime and people will say it's just cause your tree is old. Not the case. This is something that has only become popular in the recent past.

It is definitely for looks and he's of mowing. If you look in a forest it does not have mulch mounting up over the tree roots just leaves which compost down overtime. Also if there is a lot of mulch on the top and it deep composes the roots will grow up would instead of downward. Filling that area. This happened when I put my compost pile next to a tree. I didn't even consider it at the time until I tried to take out the compost and it was full of very fine roots. I think you can still have a lovely bed around your tree Just don't cover the roots. Also I personally just prefer trench entering as mentioned above because I feel it looks more natural and you can change the beds much more easily. Less expense just initial work to do it. However, My aesthetic so different to many others as I prefer them or naturalistic park like setting. There may be pressure to conform with your neighborhood so ignore what I say and that case! LOL!

@Vaporvac Z6-OhioRiverValley

@ Jinx

In the forest, the tree is not butting up against grass and being watered by sprinklers...

I truly have no idea why it is done that way, maybe it is solely aesthetics, but I can tell you that lawn mowers ride right over those exposed tree roots... (which does not happen in the forest either..but may be of little consequence if it did...). Just playing a devil's advocate... I wonder if the separation is to keep the mow and blow guys from running into and/or hacking away at the tree trunk... especially for baby trees? We will be adding trees to the front yard...

How would you suggest trees be grown/mulched in a lawn with sprinklers? Is image 2 healthier for the tree?

We have an HOA...however our homes are custom. Outside of adhering to C,C&R rules that I have accepted, I am hardly a conformist...however, I certainly skew more toward visuals...(I work to make things look right to me...) Gardening here is still what I consider new for me... so I have to, in part, question the different gardening applications I am observing to learn...

It’s great that you’re researching! I commend that. :)

For new trees, if you hire a reputable landscaping firm, they’ll know how to proceed. When I plant new trees, I either let the lawn grow up to it, or if in a bed, I lightly mulch around it. If you’d feel better with a bed around the trees, that’s perfectly fine! Just don’t bury under too much mulch.

Sprinklers aren’t enough to water new trees, you’ll need to let a hose drip on them (various time frames, depending on many factors) until they’re established.

Mowers do go over roots at times, yes, but don’t sever or suffocate them. But there are many trees that will never have roots above ground, so again, that’s a meeting with your landscapers. :)

Regarding fabric … a hill I’ll die on. :D …

I’m really just trying to help based on landscaping here my entire life, as well as formerly working in the trade.

It’s this simple regarding weeding in Texas — there are no shortcuts. We have challenging soil, a challenging climate, and overall challenging and very mixed conditions. Even in the same yard! I once had an acre that had three different soil types in it.

Bottom line: you can weed around the added aggravation of landscape fabric, or weed naturally and much easier without that burden in your way.

Besides that, fabric is not good for tree/shrub/plant life, the environment, water usage, and bank account.

There is zero benefit to using landscape fabric around trees or in flower beds, no matter what Acme Landscaping of Austin, or your neighbors, say and do.

I’m enjoying this conversation and hope I’m not annoying you. :)

You all have been most helpful... and you @Jinx have been informative and humorous...

I guess my dilemna at this point is, I used thick layers of mulch to suppress weeds at a previous garden, and had gardeners who pulled what managed to grow... The mulch was primarly to help improve the soil and to cool down the soil when temperatures hit 118 degrees day after day every Summer with overnight lows in the triple digits... Drip irrigation will likely always be one of my best friends in the garden... for multiple reasons...

If thick layers of mulch should not be placed around the base of trees, not touching the trees, and landscape fabric is a no-no, what aids in weed suppression?

“If thick layers of mulch should not be placed around the base but not touching trunks of trees, and landscape fabric is a no-no, what aids in weed suppression?”

Do you mean if you do beds around the trees?

If so … time and dedication. Each year will get better and better with proper weeding by hand/tools. Sure, there will be weeds and Bermuda pop up over the years, but easily pulled up. Newspaper layering is a wonderful option, too, as it will eventually break down in the soil.

We can get temps that high, too. It’s tough in Texas because our weather/soil/etc is so all over the place. But you can still have a gorgeous landscape.

Please — don’t fret too much. A good, established, reputable landscape business will ease your mind. Austin is an amazing area, your yard will be beautiful. :)

I’m in D/FW and have some similar, some different conditions. Texas is such a diverse state, geographically.

mxk3

Bermude Grass has runners that have a beak at their end. Just like a small bird’s beak. That beak is sharp and can poke through just about anything. Just imagine hundreds of these small plants poking and weaving throughout the fabric. When it comes time to replace you will be pulling up a ton of grass that is not only woven throughout the frantic but has roots deep within the soil. Is that what you really want??

Why not plan your rose garden such that you can run your lawnmower around the plants and even weed wack up under the plants. Hard for weeds to get ahead of that. Just remember to space the plants based on their mature size.

@toolbelt-

The rose garden will come in a later phase, and will be my 4th from nothing but dirt… it does not concern me as much in terms of weeding because by the time I get around to it, the lawn/tree/mulch, and mulch in beds with trees and shrubs will be installed/tested…

Bermuda grass... wow!! It is that, Buffalo Grass or some other water conserving grass... Next, I suppose the grass research will begin...

Re-reading this, I think I've highjacked the original poster. But it's already writen, so here goes:

I don't know how volcano mulching became a landscaping practice, but I know another reason it's bad. It keeps the bark of the tree trunk damp and increases the opportunity for rot and insect injury. Which then greatly increases the opportunity for the entry of disease. (I didn't see this mentioned; apologies if I'm repeating something)

A good reason to mulch young trees appropriately is water conservation AND- here's a big one- a 3 foot circle of mulch keeps the operator of the deadly string trimmer or lawn mower from injuring the tree trunk. STring trimmers are a major cause of girdled young trees, which will weaken or die within a couple of years.

Just because thousands of landscapers volcano mulch doesn't make it a good horticultural practice. You can tell the landscapers on your property to

keep the mulch away from the trunk of the tree and not to bury the picturesque roots of an old oak or pine. You can try your most polite persuasive educational pitch to the landscaping committee of the HOA who can tell the landscapers. But changing the "culture" of the mow and blow landscaping crew which probably doesn't read the latest horticultural research? And the homeowners are as ignorant as the mow and blowers.

Seriously, how does that get changed? I believe that's a whole new thread.

I am coming late to this conversation but I want to share another strongly negative perspective on weed-blocking fabric. I am in Wisconsin, so a really different climate from where you are in Texas, but I assure you there are plenty of weeds here too. The former owner of this ~1 acre property was a freelance landscaper and master gardener, so there are LOTS of beautiful perennials all over the place, and lots of weeds to keep them company too. Let me first speak to mulch and then I'll comment on fabric. Last year was our first spring in the house and I spent a lot of money and time spreading 10 yards of mulch to about 2-3" in depth. Despite all of that, weeds came up thick as thieves, and I've now been soured on mulch as a weed blocking tactic. But despite that, I would NEVER in a million years put down landscaping fabric, and let me tell you why.

The former owner here had a really unique "upcycling" idea for how to keep weeds down in areas she didn't want them. And what did she use for this purpose? Old carpeting. Like, indoor carpeting, cut to in long strips to form walking paths, or left in giant chunks to smother big areas she wanted to not have weeds grow on. And as I have discovered in my many hours of weeding (both "garden variety" weeding and heavy-duty invasive species removal), carpeting SUUUUCKS as a permanent weed barrier. Now think about this when you think about the people who have recommended that you get "the heaviest duty landscaping fabric" available. Do you really think it's going to last longer than a full-on piece of carpet? Nope, I doubt it. And I am here to tell you that even THICK, PLUSH carpet breaks down eventually. The other day I was pulling Dame's Rocket and bindweed from an area where there is a mostly degraded old carpet buried in about 1-2" of soil, and it super sucked.

Don't use landscape fabric. And if anyone wants some seriously disgusting, moldy, falling apart old carpet buried in a blanket of soil and weed seeds, call me!

Marie, I didn't mention it, but that is one of the reasons it can kill the tree. Thanks for specifically pointing out the moisture/disease vector issue. Picturesque is the perfect descriptor for some of those old roots.

Bananastand! Omg! I’m dying! Carpet for weed control. 😂

Jinx, let my pain be your light of inspiration. :-)

Well... I have never used landscape fabric in previous gardens and will continue that trend...

Can you all please provide information regarding pre-emergents... I put the Hula Hoe on my ”to buy“ list... I will probably need it before we move...

Sorry I sound like a broken record, but I keep up 50 acres with enough garden space that my husband has threatened to tell a judge exactly how much so he can get me committed. When I say I "keep up" that means I bush hog pastures, mow areas that aren't pasture, plant, make compost, mulch and weed. Every once in a while said husband will spend a little time on the tractor or mower, but I'm doing the bulk of it myself. The only thing I don't do is I draw the line at weed eating the mile of four board fence and dead animal removal. Pre-emergent is your best friend. It is the single biggest time and back saver I have.

The only time you shouldn't put a pre-emergent down is if you are growing plants from seed and they have not sprouted yet. And since I rarely do that I can put it down anytime I'd like. I usally have a big push in early spring to clean up, prune roses, plant new stuff and put down pre-emergent and mulch. Whew. (Then schedule a therapist to work on my back as soon as I'm done--he's cheaper than a landscaper.) . Once or twice during the summer I broadcast more right over the top of the mulch. Come fall I throw some more out before I put the garden to bed for the winter with shovels full of compost and more mulch if needed. I get 50 inches of rain so that's more than would be needed in most places. Broadcasting is as simple as shaking or swinging a plastic container.

“If thick layers of mulch should not be placed around the base but not touching trunks of trees, and landscape fabric is a no-no, what aids in weed suppression?”

IMO it's fine to use mulch around a tree.

Just pull it back from the base so that it doesn't touch the tree itself.

I managed an arboretum so my experience comes from trying to manage large tracts. The main problem with the fabric is it is difficult to change things around once it is applied. Plants die, landscapes evolve, etc. and each time you want to change the layout, you will be digging up landscape fabric. However, it does dramatically cut down on weeds, with the caveat that this is temporarily. Cardboard does the same thing, temporarily. In some spots, serious weed conditions can be managed using landscape cloth as part of the process. But no way is that all that is needed. The mulch over the cloth breaks down and gathers soil, so weeds grow. Eventually their roots disrupt the fabric. So you still need maintenance. Landscapers like to use "weed cloth" in installation because of the temporary nature of its weed suppression. Weeds stay down long enough for the installation to look nice for a while and when the problems emerge the landscaper is long gone. If you don't attend to weeds, even in areas with landscape cloth, you will have issues eventually anyway.

I've had luck using mulch with products like "Snapshot" and "Preen" to control weeds. But needs to be applied early on. It's a chemical treatment, but does break down eventually into more benign compounds. That's the "pre-emergent" that folks are talking about. It doesn't persist or spread to other areas like some other pesticides. It has the advantage of being a weed prevention strategy, so you won't have to use the nastier weed killers (and they're all pretty nasty, no matter whether you make them out of salt, dishsoap and vinegar at home or buy them in a store from Monsanto) and they can impact nearby plants you want to keep.

As for weeding, it's necessary, and the skill to be able to weed effectively is not something just any run of the mill person has or can master. This comes from someone who tried to teach her landscape crew to identify and pull weeds. That's the reason for the extra cost I would imagine.

In my own home landscape, I use a combination of weeding, Preen and mulch to control weeds. The more you work the program the fewer weed species that will thrive in your landscape and the easier the job gets . . . theoretically. You have to get the weeds before they go to seed and tamp down the seed sources. Grow healthy plants covering the ground in natural assemblages so they thrive together and you will go a long way to discouraging weeds. Most weed species thrive in unhealthy and disrupted plant communities and soil. Health and soil stability discourages weeds. Strive for that.

As for around trees, I agree with what some have posed, if your tree is in a sea of mowed lawn, the mulch aids the person mowing the lawn, keeps them away from the trunk and branches of the tree where they can cause damage, even if they go back and string trim. That's how I use my mulch. Every year I go in, pull any weeds that have sprung up, cover with Preen, and then apply a thin new coat of mulch. Then a couple times during the year, spot weed. The beds around the trees gradually get bigger, I'm lazy so use cardboard that I save from shipping to kill the grass around the ever expanding circles (my trees are young so are still growing rapidly. Then spot weeding a couple times a year does the trick. That's easy since anything growing in the mulch circle around the tree is a weed.

If you have mobility issues, you can shot hit the weeds with an herbicide that breaks down, being careful not to hit the tree or any part of it. That's called "blowback" and can cause serious problems. My Dad had someone incorrectly apply a "natural" vinegar based herbicide to his siding to control mildew and algae and the blowback killed all the plants in the garden he had next to the house. "Natural" does not mean non-toxic! That's why if I was using an herbicide, I'd use a shot of Roundup, following package directions so as to not breathe it in or let anyone into the area after the application and also when and how to apply so it works and is not wasted. You wouldn't be broadcasting it if you used it to spot treat individual weeds. Then stay out of the area. Roundup will break down. I don't believe in broadcasting it all over but with mobility issues and small spot treatments you might consider it as a possible tool in your situation. But only applied to small spots and with care not to affect surrounding plant health. The biggest problem with Roundup is it is seen as a simple one size fits all solution to every problem and used incorrectly.

The more natural solution in your case would be spot weeding but if you have real mobility issues you have to pay someone to do it. Maybe the tools can help you too, we use them for spot pulling dandelions out of the yard, but there will come a point when we won't even be able to do that. However, look around for a cost effective company. If you're managing the weeds already, then any weeding should be of short duration and easy and infrequent. In and out maybe once a month tops for maybe a half hour. That's how I help my Dad keep weeds under control in his beds around his condo. If you keep the situation under control, any follow up should be short and sweet.

Heres a question. i couldn't get to weed everywhere before the 3” mulch was put down. if i put down preen now does it need to be raked into the mulch or will just watering it well be effective.?

@Marie Tulin - Great question...

@l pinkmountain - Thank you for the detailed response!!!

I had major lower back surgery a couple of years ago, for the most part was successful (major improvement), however, heavy lifting and repetitive bending causes a back ache that aggravates me for a couple of days or so. I could be a little paranoid... but do not have a doctor in my new state so I err on the side of caution... plus, unlike some, I just do not like weeding...

You wrote "skill to weed effectively" what are your thoughts about products like the Hula Hoe etc... for pulling weeds?

I live in Massachusetts so a far different climate than Texas plus our closest neighbor is around 200 feet away but we are also surrounded by oak, maple and white pine trees. And the chipmunks think I LOVE to have their help planting oak trees in my flower beds. We also get the usual weeds like dandelion and some small creeping weed with tiny white flowers. I use magazines, catalogs and cardboard as weed suppressant. The magazines work better than newspaper since they don't blow away as easily. I use a fairly thick stack maybe 10 pages and just tuck it around my plants. When I use cardboard I soak it first. This makes it really easy to tear into smaller pieces. My more established gardens are almost weed free now. I mulch with a thin layer 1-2 inches at most mainly for looks. The gardens that have cardboard as a weed blocker are full of huge earthworms too, a nice bonus :-)

The only time I use landscape fabric is to smother large unplanted areas or for dirt pathways between my garden beds until the permanent path is installed, pavers, crushed stone, etc. Right now I'm trying to kill off the vinca that I foolishly planted. One of my worst gardening decisions ever. That and Queen Anne's Lace! Large cardboard boxes work great too, are free and add a little organic matter to your soil when they break down.

Sharon

Hubs and I use them. It's still tough on the back but maybe someone else can chime in here and give a different perspective. Obviously preferable to kneeling, repetitively bending or stooping. But I still have to bend to scoop up the weeds the hoe kicks out . . . any chance you can pay a neighbor kid to come over and just help you occasionally? Sometimes easier said than done. So far I haven't found anyone, but my Dad utilized a young high schooler to do some of the climbing bending etc. work around this place before he moved out. That's why you might check around and see if you can hire some occasional work for less money. Something you could supervise to make sure they don't pull the wrong things, or weeding in an area where they don't have to discern and can pull up any and all plants.

But don't have someone like that come in shortly after you use a weed killer, give that some time, like two weeks to be safe. Directions say 24 hours but I know a little bit about how fast glyphosate (sold commercially as "Roundup") degrades. It kind of depends. But it does degrade, its just difficult to parse how fast because there are a lot of variables involved. However, the fact that it degrades is both good and bad, because if you don't apply it correctly and its not immediately absorbed by the plant, it won't kill it. That's why home-level Roundup concentrations only work really well on new young weeds with tender foliage that is much more likely to absorb the chemical. Spray it on old established weeds and you are wasting your time and putting toxins needlessly into the environment. You can mix and match strategies but know your variables. The same circumstances apply to those vinegar sprays that are touted as better because they are "natural." The stronger the vinegar the more likely it will be to kill the plant but then the more dangerous it is to apply. My previous post is a prime example of how "organic" and natural does not mean totally benign.

As a side note, they sell mulches that come pretreated with Preen or something similar. Expensive for a large scale situation but it might work for some situations. Not good if you want to use any kind of seeds on the area, but usually folks mulch beds with already established plants.

Edited to add that a local landscape company we deal with uses people with special needs who can do menial jobs to do supervised weeding. They pay them a fair wage, same as anyone else, but since it is supervised they don't have to pay them the skilled labor rate. There are local agencies that help these people find work so you may want to contact them. They also supervise the work environment and liaise with the employer tom make sure everything is going smoothly for all involved.

Lynne, since I was the one who suggested the Hula Hoe, I will attempt an answer. It doesn't actually pull weeds, rather cuts them off at the soil line. If the weed is denied sunlight, it will cease to grow. One pass with the Hula Hoe will only be the start. If kept up, and used before the weed sets seed, the roots eventually die. It's not hard to push and pull the hoe back and forth and gives instant gratification. I rake up the weeds it severs from the roots, and the bed looks clean. Some will grow back, so it needs to be done until the roots give up. If you're going to use newspaper or cardboard under your mulch, you can do it now. If only using mulch, I'd wait until the weeds have decided it's not worth the trouble to grow there.

@l pinkmountain

My current neighborhood ( considered highly desireable with trails, lakes, amenities, great schools, and homes that sale within hours) is extremely family oriented ( according to the owner of our rental, the neighborhood has lot of transplants from Austin proper, and what is evident, the Near East and other parts of the world). We have lived here for two years and do not know a single neighbor... Ten days ago, the wind blew the fence between this property and our neighbor's down... We heard nothing from them... despite seeing cars coming and going. They have a small dog they let into their backyard too... The owner of the house we rent even knocked on the door (cars in the driveway)... and nothing... Unfortunately, we had to put our dog of over 12 years down back in March, ( a white german shepherd)... At times, we let her out in the backyard, and she would always come out with us when we sat out back or I gardened... If she was still alive, having that fence down, although she was a sweetie... could have been quite intetestiing...

Contrast this with our new neighboorhood where we have already met 5 neighbors, and have been invited to a BBQ crawl... exchanged phone numbers.... Long story short... regarding kids pulling weeds...Thus far, it appears that my closest neighbors's kids, like us, are barely in their 20's and are off at college etc., or there are young couples with babies or pre-teens... During our visits, we have not seen much else...I will try the tips suggested to decrease the weeds to make it more manageable for me or we will just pay a maintenance company to take care of the lawn and weeds... Actually, come to think of it, periodically, people have knocked on the door representing what I believe was a weed pulling/treatment business... I guess the next time I will keep that flyer/card... just in case...

Aww, sorry to hear about your pup.

I’m glad your new neighborhood is so friendly — I hope you’re very happy there. :)

Now I have gone way off topic...

Her during snowmageddon:

She’s beautiful. ❤️

That storm was something, just awful. My DD had no power for a week, had icicles inside her apartment (Dallas).

I read on this forum where people were putting down cardboard.... well I tried it.... and I also read about the fabric.... I thought it was the greatest thing since slice bread... but that was Wonder Bread... white no nutrients... it went straight to my waist.... as with all things of great promise, there might be consequences... of the not so good kind.

The layers and layers of cardboard with the fabric did NOTHING to stop the St. Augstine *ie a fancy name for crab grass

I had a mess. My palm roots grew up through it... the grass grew through it.... and it makes it harder to weed because the roots are under everything, and the top breaks off and the grass comes right back.

@sharon2079

I too, will not go anywhere near the cardboard in planting beds, but for a different reason. After putting down cardboard in the bed of our rental as a weed deterrent, then like a month or so later, pulling it up in a spot to plant something, and finding an army of termites... I will pass...

Hm, I've used it and it has been fine because it degrades fast so doesn't harbor a lot of stuff under it. No more so than mulch. But I live in temperate midwest so maybe decomposition is faster. But I just use old corrugated carboard shipping boxes, with all the plastic tape torn off . . . Don't even see it the following year and it's almost gone by the end of the first . . . you definitely have a bigger battle against weeds and bugs in a warmer climate . . . more time to grow so more of 'em. Sadly, termites are why I don't use wood bark mulches anywhere near my home's foundation.

Edited to add: lucky is the person who can find that rare bird, the helpful neighbor kid.

This article answers a lot of questions about wood chip mulch. It addresses termites in relation to wood chip mulch. https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/403/2015/03/wood-chips.pdf It takes awhile to load.

So true about finding a neighborhood kid to help. I found a young man who was just starting a gardening business and had plenty of time, but his business grew so quickly, he had to hire help and of course, digging holes, moving big rocks and pulling weeds for me went by the wayside. He took all my cast offs and created a garden of his own with what I was going to toss. He was like a sponge, asking questions and soaking up every thing I told him about roses. He now cares for huge private rose gardens in the historic part of town. When he told me he would learn how to trim my overgrown lilacs, he researched everything he could find before he tackled the job. I miss his help, but I'm so proud of his success.

I use cardboard and mulch. First I go to the hardware store in the morning when they're unloading stuff and I take the big pieces of cardboard they're getting rid of (free!). Often the cardboard has tape on it, which I remove and throw in the trash. Then I mow the area I'm working on and get whatever medium/large plants I want there in the ground. Then I lay cardboard on the ground, taking care to go around the plants I want but otherwise blanketing the ground as I would do with landscape fabric. Then I cover this with a couple inches of mulch. After a few weeks, when everything's a bit more settled I go back through and plant smaller groundcover perennials as underplantings. As the mulch breaks down they will take over as a green mulch and prevent weeds from becoming too established. I also keep the weed growth down by spot-watering the plants, rather than using a sprinkler on the whole area.

The process still requires some weeding but it works very well for me. I have now used it on my entire yard and no longer have any grass at all.

l pinkmountain I grew up in the midwest.... anything you lay on the grass there the grass starts to die..... down here it grow right through it.... ug..... you can't even go barefoot on the stuff they call grass down here. It is tough and feels like number nine wire... In fact, I would rather walk on the stubble left in the straw fields then this stuff called grass down here.

I might be fine using wood chips near my house in TX. Here in damp MI, it's just one of a whole variety of things that get damp and hold onto the dampness, providing bugs a happy environment up near my house . . . It's a long hard battle at my house right now trying to create a "dry zone" around the house. That includes dealing with trees that are close and drop debris, gutter and downspout issues and landscaping.

That's why its important to study your local conditions and create a long term landscape and yard maintenance plan that fits it. Too many homes are landscaped and maintained for the one size fits all, short term only, which makes it either labor or chemical intensive . . . but sure looks pretty in the short run when the homes go up for sale . . . My current home was like that, and a decade of my Dad piling short term fix after short term fix until the underlying problems could no longer be covered up . . .

I'm 72 and have a really bad back (DDD at multiple vertebrae sites) that allows only very brief bending. Have broken both femur heads (below knees) in an inside fall, and although both are healed, it is painful to get on my knees for more than 5-10 minutes at a time, even using foam pads. Just this past year, I've decided mulch, fabric, newspaper and cardboard are all short term and I'm always right back to the messy, weedy beds that are even harder and more time-consuming to weed because of the items just listed.

My decision this year is I'm done with ALL OF THE ABOVE methods for controlling weeds. I've ripped up the fabric from the one bed I had it in under a primrose jasmine that roots wherever it touches the ground (since dug up & removed). Last year I pulled up the newspaper & cardboard in one small bed. From here on out, I'm using the weedeater exclusively.

I'm not a flower gardener and the few varieties I can keep alive are in pots off the ground so I can weedeat around the pots easily. I stick to flowering shrubs and trees instead. Unfortunately my father did NOT pass on his green thumb to me. Rose bushes and flowering shrubs are just easier to weedeat around. I just hold the whacker close to the ground and let it rip up what it will down to bare soil. I prefer the soil look to mulch or rock. I hand pull weeds that get closer to trunks if need be. I go through a lot of WW twine, and that adds up, but spending $$$ on twine is worth it to save me the resulting back & knee pain. Every spring my husband is always whining we need to mulch all the beds, but he just a 'spread it and forget it' kind of guy. It's me that ends up with the aftermath of his decisions. It has been a areal bone of contentions this year in particular. So I'm DONE WITH IT! Need to get out and weedeat it tomorrow, in fact, but it'll be done in an hour or less, as our yard (and beds) are small. :)