I would think that it would become too hot in midsummer under black plastic in TN. It certainly would be here in MS. First, do you have your garden positioned so that grass cannot run into it? Black plastic edging makes an easy and inexpensive first line of defense. Until you block its entry you are fighting a losing battle. Bermuda grass doesn't like mulch. Assuming your garden is planted, I would dig as much as possible while it's small and the soil is still loose, then put down a thick layer of mulch over the entire garden. If you haven't planted yet, it will be easier. Cover the entire garden with cardboard or ten sheet thicknesses of newsprint (not the glossy colored sheets), then top that off with several inches of mulch: chopped leaves, grass clippings, pine straw, whatever you can get. Shredded bark works too. Then open up holes in it to plant. Probe around with your trowel to be sure there's no grass roots right in the hole. Then be VIGILANT about pulling out any that appear. The good news is if you stay with it, it gets less and less over time. I promise you this works. Last year, I covered an established lawn area with cardboard and mulch and planted into holes. There was virtually no grass all summer, and I pulled what there was. I added another several inches of mulch last fall. There is none whatsoever this year. Roundup will kill Bermuda, but I personally wouldn't want it in my veggie garden. Just saying.

oh mercy I've done it and done it.........my garden in Chicago was a 10-year project of learning and loving. I'd got it to where I could get an armful of flowers weekly and beautiful dirt, compost, etc. Poof, off to Israel. No midwest gardners needed; now I was in for no snow, no frost, sheeting floods in winter and summer hell drought. Ten years I terraced, tried, composted, grew fabulous lavender and rosemary, learned Middle east garden on a 45 degree angle tricks. DG says move, poof we move. I took very few of the old plants with me, and most of those died, and here I am starting anew. Saw old garden this week: completely ignored and in disrepair. New house, very little garden open space, mostly room for containers and a few perennials, lots of shade (great for cooling, not so good for growing). Again, I must still find a place for the compost pile, dig and see what kind of soil I have (rocky, no worms, millions of slugs) figure out where the sun is likely to be in seasons I haven't been here for yet, and put nearly everything in pots and move them around to see where they are happiest before I plant them, which will take at least a whole year of seasons before I can say I understand how to garden here. At which point DG has informed me that we will probably stay here for a "few" years, and then move again so the investment in the house is worth it. I have left more fully functioning gardens, after years of work, than I care to think about. But, I taught myself how to garden, what works/doesn't in a new country. I NEED to garden, and though I sometimes seethe with envy for gardens that I can work and grow for more that a decade, it's the process that I really need. Playing in the dirt. Plant stuff, have fun, learn, get dirty. Move, give as much as you can away, bless the garden that held you, and move on to a new embrace. Start again. Batya

I had to scroll up to see where i was. Is trex considered organic? Are they still playing that card? What percentage of the factory misc ingredients is actually recycled. What is the long term breakdown? I'm asking because i don't really know. I've not really followed but it seems most are not happy with it and now replacing it? It looks fake. Right behind the plastic tool shed, next to the plastic turtle sand box. And little tykes plastic jungle gym, behind the vinyl siding on the house with a plastic bubbly mailbox. Above ground plastic pool behind a chain-link with plastic strips in green and white with plastic adirondack chairs blown by the wind in a heap stuck in a corner...a storm last year. (an unfortunate driving direction landmark for visitors... just pass the elementary school, pass the 'plastic house', "its for sale!", on the left....) Plastics are difficult to avoid. Recycling is certainly the way to look at things available for free. Not sure if i would support purchasing such a thing. It would give me a bit of a shudder having a plastic or composite man-made material in my garden. If heading for a land-fill i might consider a compost bin. Maybe a flower bed edging somewhere. Base for a potting bench? I do have a compost bin made out of cinder blocks that were piled in the field when i bought the farm. Its the bin i don't really use. Just a place to stack all the big stuff i have no place for. Next to a big rusty vintage manure spreader that gets the really big stuff.

Here's a picture (not mine--it's from the internet but this is what's out there. I will try to get a picture from my garden later). They are just underneath the surface and go down a few inches. If I dig them up they burrow back underneath the ground. From what I read they are beetle larvae, and it seems like they usually ruin lawns by eating the roots. I am guessing these things are all over my yard, and they are what killed off the grass that once existed in my backyard (when we moved in it was already just weeds and dirt, but I do know there was once sod, maybe 6 or 7 years ago). Now they are in my garden bed eating all the plant roots. I wish they could just eat the roots of weeds in my yard! Thanks to everyone for responding! I hope the picture helps if anyone has experience with these. I'm thinking since my entire yard is infested I might have to just spray the entire area with pesticides and start again next year. I'm wondering if anyone agrees that's the best option? I know a picture of the actual infestation might help so you can see how prolific these grubs are. I will get one later. Thanks again for any input.