Re: CULT: Weed block cloth in raised beds?

Jean:
 
I don't know if the Bermuda Grass in San Francisco Bay is the same in New  
Mexico, but Bermuda Grass will grow through landscape fabric in New  Mexico. 
 It won't grow through solid plastic but then how would you drain  your 
beds?  My flower beds are not above-ground.  It took me two  years, to clean 
the Bermuda out of my new flower beds.  I then lined the  sides with aluminum  
flashing going down at least 8-10 inches to prevent  the underground 
runners from gaining a foothold.  I then use a  shovel and occasional use of 
roundup to keep the Bermuda about a foot away  from the flashing and the beds.   
Of course, a concrete barrier would  be better but that is more expensive 
and would involve a lot of  work.   Aluminum flashing is continuous and 
provides no crevices for  the Bermuda to grow through.  
 
I would think your Bermuda grass could still go under whatever you use to  
line your above-ground beds (unless it went deep and was unbroken).    You 
will need to keep the Bermuda from reaching the sides of your raised  beds.  
I know of one woman who makes her renters sign a piece of paper that  they 
won't plant Bermuda Grass on the property!   However, this is NM  Bermuda 
Grass.  The rest of the country may be different.
 
Good Luck
 
Scarlett
 
 
In a message dated 8/10/2009 5:41:25 P.M. Mountain Daylight Time,  
richter@eecs.berkeley.edu writes:

We're in  the process of re-doing the three raised beds
in our front yard, two of  which were overrun with
Bermuda grass. My wife and I are in a bit of  a
disagreement about how to mitigate the Bermuda grass
in the  future.

She wants to line the bottom of the beds with
weed block  cloth to keep out the Bermuda grass.
I'm afraid that doing that would  inhibit the
iris in their search for nutrients, since they
wouldn't be  able to access the dirt under the
beds (pretty poor soil anyway, which is  why we
have the raised beds in the first place -
our house is very near  the historic shoreline
of San Francisco Bay and our dirt is mostly  sand).

What do folks think - is weed block cloth a good idea?
Will  it even keep out the Bermuda grass anyway?
Is it better to give the iris  access to the underlying dirt,
or just add extra amendments &  fertilizer to the
raised bed soil, essentially making the beds  into
giant pots?

Jean
SF bay area, zone 9, and very summerlike  today

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