Tulips are a popular choice for planting, but they can be difficult to maintain due to competition from weeds and aphids. To prevent tulip-killing diseases, it is essential to clean out weeds and grasses as soon as they appear. Glyphosate can be applied to spring bulb foliage, which can kill the bulbs. The best time to kill weeds with herbicide is during or after flowering, when plants are typically weak from expending energy to produce flowers.
Low-maintenance ground covers like golden creeping Jenny and Mazus can help choke out weeds. If planted in groups, yarrow (Achillea millefolium) will successfully choke out weeds in your yard. If you need to kill grass growing close to ornamental plants, a grass-specific herbicide containing 2,4-D is necessary. Short varieties allow for mowing the grass, but with tulips, it may take a few months to mow. Roundup/Glycophosphat will kill both tulips and grass, so a lawn herbicide containing 2,4-D is recommended.
To prevent grass from returning to the flower bed, edging around the flower bed is recommended. However, deep compost over the grass is likely to kill it anyway, and cardboard could interfere with the tulips. In the spring, tulips can be planted directly in the lawn, but it is not difficult to do so. Although you may lose this year’s blooms, they will continue to store energy in the bulb to return to their regular blooming cycle next year.
In summary, tulips are a popular choice for planting, but they require careful care to maintain their health and longevity.
📹 On This Episode Of You Can’t Eat The Grass
We are a flower farm selling bouquets from our roadside stand and at our local farmers market, and this video is the opening of our …
Why are my tulips falling over in the garden?
Tulips are phototactic and heliotropic plants that move and twist according to sunlight intensity. If you notice drooping tulips, it may be due to insufficient sunlight. Before planting, tulips need cold temperatures, but once they grow above ground, they need warmth for survival. Ensure the tulips are planted in a location with enough light and no obstruction from tall trees or buildings. If the tulips are too cold, add mulch to the soil bed as an insulator to keep them warm.
Can you put tulips in the ground?
Tulip bulbs should be planted 15 cm-6 inches deep, with 12 cm (8 inches) deep in areas with severe frost to prevent animal consumption. For species tulips, they can be planted in shallower soil, usually 10 cm-4 inches to 12. 5 cm (5 inches). Planting too deep can cause bulb rot and delay springtime growth. The general rule is to plant bulbs 2-3 times their vertical diameter, as too deep planting can cause the bulb to rot. For more information on growing tulips, refer to the tulip bulb growing guide.
Do tulips like to be crowded?
Tulips are prone to crowding, leading to smaller bulbs and fewer flowers each year. Replanting and care can help these small bulbs grow into larger ones, producing flowers the following year. If you have many leaves and small flowers, it’s time to dig up the bulbs and spread them out. If you have only a few leaves and small flowers, the bulbs may be getting too much water. Once the bulbs are lifted from the ground, clean off the old roots, and separate them from the cluster.
How to get rid of quackgrass in flower beds?
Quackgrass is an invasive weed that can quickly spread through any soil, but it is best to avoid it in the first place. When bringing plants home from stores or nurseries, it is essential to thoroughly check for quackgrass and remove the plant and roots if found in the pot. If found, act quickly as quackgrass moves quickly through loamy or sandy soil. Regularly check your beds for the appearance of quackgrass and remove the plant and roots as soon as possible. If flower beds become overrun with quackgrass, manual pulling is the only option.
Non-selective weed killers are the only chemical option for eliminating quackgrass, as they do not respond to selective weed killers. These weed killers will not only eliminate the weed but also kill any plants it is growing near. If a bed becomes infested, replanting may be necessary.
To get rid of quackgrass, start by removing any plants you wish to keep, checking the soil for quackgrass roots, and treating the bed with a non-selective weed killer, chemical, or boiling water. Wait one week and treat the bed again if quackgrass starts to grow again. Repeat these steps if necessary to ensure the weed is eliminated. Chemical control should only be used as a last resort, as organic approaches are more environmentally friendly.
How to remove grass around tulips?
The text provides advice on how to dig up grass and create plant beds for your lawn. It suggests using a hand trowel or short shovel to dig up the grass, and replanting bulbs on newspaper sheets. Avoid straight lines and plant “color spot” plants instead. Clean out grasses and weeds while digging.
Design plant beds that are raised above the grass level by double digging, raking, firming, and mulching. Create a small trench between grass and plant beds for a clean, clean line and drainage. Make the radius of curves to your lawn consistent, changing it only when the radius point changes. This will help maintain the lawn’s edge and prevent compound curves.
The text also emphasizes the importance of making the radius of curves consistent, ensuring they are not changed when the radius point changes. This will help maintain a clean and efficient lawn. The text also advises reversing the curve and moving the point of the radius to the outside of the lawn.
What animal bites the heads off tulips?
Deer, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, voles, and groundhogs are known to eat tulips and are potential pests. Research indicates that gray squirrels can learn from their peers, particularly when it comes to stealing food. A squirrel in your neighborhood learned to nip off tulip flowers about five years ago and taught this behavior to its peers. This behavior may be part of their foraging routine or seeking water from the plant. However, this behavior does not occur everywhere, as evidenced by a gardener in Toronto with few tulip flowers clipped off.
How do you keep tulips alive in dirt?
To plant tulips, use a drill with a bulb pit and dig a hole three times the size of the bulbs. Plant them 6-8 inches deep and 4-6 inches apart in sandy, well-drained soil. Choose an area with morning sun and afternoon shade for tulips to thrive. Cover the bulbs with 1 to 2 inches of mulch during the off-season and fertilize them in the fall with a slow-release bulb fertilizer. For extra maintenance, give the bulb a shot of liquid fertilizer three to four weeks after planting and again at the beginning of spring. Water tulips lightly, one good soaking after planting and again when they start to sprout green leaves.
Should I mulch around tulips?
While mulch is not a prerequisite for bulbs, it can facilitate the maintenance of soil moisture and temperature by incorporating three inches (8 cm) of mulch when the soil temperature is relatively cool and just prior to freezing.
Should you cut down tulips after they bloom?
Tulip foliage should not be removed until it has turned brown and died, which depends on bulb type, weather, and other factors. Most tulips usually die back in late June or early July. Premature removal reduces plant vigor and bulb size, resulting in fewer flowers next spring. After the foliage has turned brown, it can be safely cut off at ground level and discarded. Learn more about tulips in this article.
How long do tulips last in dirt?
Tulip bulbs are classified as early and mid-season, with early tulips blooming from March to April and mid-season types extending into spring. Cool weather can last 1-2 weeks, while those left in the ground may not bloom the following season. To ensure optimal growth, plant bulbs in the fall and store them in a cool, dark, and dry place. If necessary, wait until the foliage has died before replanting.
Tulips can also be enjoyed in a bouquet, either alone or combined with other spring flowers. Cut them as soon as the color starts to show, and they should last for around 5 days. Keep the vase topped up with cold water, and cut tulips will last longer in a cool room and out of direct sunlight. Tulips are a highlight of springtime, and choosing bulbs according to their blooming period can create a colorful display that lasts for several weeks.
What is eating the heads off my tulips?
Growing tulips can be challenging due to the presence of certain critters such as squirrels, voles, and mice that enjoy eating tulip bulbs. To repel these pests, plants like daffodils, allium, and fritillaria can be planted in the tulip bed. Identifying the culprits and their “munch mark” on the remaining leaves can help identify the hungry ones. Fencing the tulip bed is not necessary, but depending on the culprit’s identity, motion lighting, scattering hair/blood meal, hunting and picking off slugs, or using a strong spray from the garden hose can be used.
Interplanting daffodils, allium, and fritillaria can also be an effective method. Online resources can help identify deterrents for various pests. It is crucial to keep the tulip beds clean and free of hiding places for these pests. Additionally, keep the leaves dry by watering them with soaker hoses or being careful not to get water on them.
📹 Gardening with this weed 👎👎👎
Saving a plant from my most hated weed! Bermuda grass – In this video I save a Veronica that was being eaten by some Bermuda …
I’m impressed by the way you dispatched that clump of Bermuda grass. It took me a half hour to pry up a 4’x4’ square of Bermuda sod last May. The roots are VERY tough and woody. Even after that ordeal, the beast regenerated all summer. I spot treat this grass with Roundup when it pops up in a mulched area. Ornamec works very well, but it’s expensive. My long-term strategy is to cultivate shade. Bermuda is weaker in shaded places. We hates it forever!
Creeping Charlie and yellow nutsedge are the nemesis of both my lawn and beds. I have other weeds but they’re easy to deal with in comparison. Bermuda is truly an alpha grass and while I don’t have to deal with it in my yard, I do at work. I am a groundskeeper in a retirement community and I’ve seen it come up and through a tiny crack in a speed bump in the middle of the street. Looked like it couldn’t have been happier!
I live outside of Chicago zone 5b. I’ve been gardening for 30+ years. My yard is 80% shade & I’ve adapted to that for 40+ years. These last 2 years I’ve been battling thistle in a North side garden of golden hostas & ferns. I’ve seen footage on YouTube about thistle & its long, deep roots. I’ve even injected the plants with a syringe & Roundup straight into the stem…it got worse! Next spring I’m planning to totally & slowly dig up the area & salvage the hostas & ferns, & gently trace the thistles from end to end & lift them out. It’ll probably take me all spring, but I might as well use what patience I have left to maybe find some satisfaction in the long term. Got my fingers 🤞
Jim – I want to send you a big thank you. Many moons ago in a article you explained about liriope spicata. At that time I did not know there were various types of liriope. Last week an acquaintance of mine said she had some liriope she wanted to get rid of and I said I’ll take it. She brought it over and I remembered about the l. spicata. I told her about it and later I looked to see how to recognize it. Sure enough she brought me spicata. Needless to say I won’t be planting it. But without you talking about it I would have and ALL the references say it is practically impossible to eradicate it. So thank you so much.
I don’t like roundup but I use it on two things: poison ivy and Bermuda grass. I use it selectively and sparingly. A lot of my property is wooded and poison ivy is well established. My new method of control is to cut it off at its base when I find it and then spray what is rooted in the ground with extreme roundup. To keep Bermuda out of my flower beds I use deep wood chips over cardboard and trench out the perimeter and spray that trench once a year with the roundup. It’s a battle, with both I can only manage, never eradicate.
I did a similar thing that you did in your front yard to create a garden space. The Bermuda grass keeps coming back around the edges of the concrete. It took a while of repetition to remove it from my nepeta hedge safely. I have another garden bed that runs along the front patio of my house. The Bermuda roots dive under the brick pavers and into the garden bed. It is amazing seeing how they wrap themselves in my other plants. I ended up having to remove parts of a verbena just ripping the Bermuda out.
We moved in last year and in the fall used a sod cutter to make new flower beds, about 20,000sq ft worth. Cut down 2″ not knowing how resilient Bermuda is. Put down beautiful pine mulch in January and then in the spring the Bermuda came back with a vengeance. It’s been a process trying to get rid of it. We’ve found spraying with glyphosate does kill it and then we use a weed torch to burn the foliage down. 🫠 The things we do for our gardens! (Sandhills NC, zone 8a)
I have a fescue lawn, as does everyone else in my subdivision and never had a problem with Bermuda grass until I replaced a deck with a patio and the landscapers reseeded the bare spots (2 years ago) that resulted from the project. Not sure what grass type they reseeded with, but 1) it definitely wasn’t fescue as it was dead even before the heat of the summer hit and 2) it definitely had a ton of weed seeds in it. The reason I’m confident it was their seeds is that I had done a renovation of my back lawn about 2 months prior to the patio project. What I did still looks great, with very few weeds. The areas they did are bare and full of weeds. I keep hand pulling everything but this year, I am losing the battle.
I have a love hate relationship with Bermuda grass. I’m in zone 9b and it is everywhere. I have learned to stop fighting it and just try to stay on top of it so it stays contained. I never step over it if I see it headed to a flower bed, I stop and pull it out before it takes over. My father has an all Bermuda grass lawn and although it is beautifully kept, he is a daily gardener. I’m only a weekly gardener.
My most hated weed is probably oxalis. Mainly two different forms. A combination of glyphosate and digging out has been effective in limiting oxalis here. Touch wood, other perennial weeds are not really a problem. Digging out plants to clear them from weed roots, as you did with your Veronica, usually works well for me so hope it works for you Jim. Agree that keeping the ground clean and regular mulching is the way to go.
Dichondra – you can only control it withbroadleaf herbicide (not eradicate it); it keeps coming back and comes back stronger. It out-completes fescue and bermuda but it does need water. Drastically reduced irrigation this summer which did the trick. No more turf grass and no more dichondra. Installing drought tolerant landscaping instead. (northern california)
Bermuda grass cannot be dug out unless it’s newly grown in my experience. My yard is a combination of Bermuda grass and King Ranch Bluestem. This was a pasture when we built so it’s everywhere. I get rid of them but covering them with paper feed sacks or cardboard. But it must be solid coverage. I leave a 4 inch space between the grass and flowerbeds which keeps it out spraying that area with Roundup in spring-early summer when it’s growing fast. Bermuda grass survives our Texas heat and drought.
I have wild onions in my flower bed, they are tiny bulbs, the bulb sizes range from a quarter size to the size of a hair bead or sometimes rice grain! 6 inches below the soil, it’s a nightmare! I tried digging up as much as possible but I see they’re growing back with a vengeance. At this point I think it’s impossible to get rid of. So my plan of action is to pack as much plants in the bed as possible so you can’t see the weeds 😅 or maybe a ground cover
Funny! In the 1960’s, my dad use to burn the whole yard with ammonium nitrate in order to get just bermuda grass to come up for a beautiful lawn. My most hated aggressive/invasive plants are english ivy, vinca major, and poison ivy. (I am in a FB group about native plants in my area, and I am not allowed to say ugly words about poison ivy since it is a native–LOL! )These dreaded plants are gone now, but we will see what happens in the spring. Thanks for the article!
English ivy is the worst and my woods were loaded with it from someone’s planting, killing off the native ground covers and perennials and even trees. Luckily, between me and the deer most of it is gone now and I am replanting hopefully what was there originally so that it looks like a real forest again!
We have a lot of Bermuda in Kansas. It’s gotten into my fescue yard and I’ve tried and tried to get rid of it. I finally called “uncle” and let it go. It’s native here and there’s no getting rid of it. A weed(to me) that I can’t seem to get rid of is wild violets. Here they take over and will choke out plants in your garden. If you have suggestions how to get rid of it, I’d give anything a try!!
I can’t believe I did it! I started limbing up a row of Leyland Cypress so my grandsons could run under them without getting spiders & whatever on them. When I was half done I looked up and I had removed privacy between my yard and the neighbors from 3’-5’. Aaarrrrghhh. There is a 3’ cyclone fence with screen on it. What can I plant in their shade that will grow fast, and screen 3’-5’ high and look good? I’m in Charlotte 7b.
My entire property is infested with hairy bittercress! The lawn, every perennnial/shrub bed, tree mulch rings, and veggie gardens. This year I made a focused attack on it in our planting bed at our front door and am convinced it cannot be eradicated. It blooms and seeds prolifically and very early. And apparently has done so for years before we got here. I fight several other exotic invasives and natives like Pokeweed. But hairy bittercress has got my goat!
Bermuda is the worst. We just covered most of our backyard that is bordered by flower beds with black plastic and about 12 inches of wood chips. My second most hated weed is sheep sorrel (I think that’s what it’s called.) It a leafy weed that also grows by runners and seed. It was mixed in with our weedy Bermuda lawn.
I have similar running grass here on Vancouver island British Columbia Canada. It is along the fence between my yard and neighbors. Roots can go down over a foot deep and travel all along the border. I had to dig out a peony to rid one area of it. I replanted the peony and gives divisions away to friends. Still fighting it growing up through the roses. Yuk! Grrr…!
LOL! I hear ya, Jim. I have a bermuda lawn that I love (Zone 8a Georgia) but I can’t stand chamberbitter!!!! It pulls up easy enough but is soooooooo seedy. No throwing that in compost or chopping and dropping. Thankfully, it’s an annual BUT is it’s worst in the absolute heat of the summer. Tough chore in July/August
I, along with another neighbor ‘acquired’ Bermudagrass through the county workers throwing out Bermuda seed when they replaced the road sign on our property. My yard is now about 60% Fescue 40% Bermuda, and it is invading all of my beds that have direct sun. I’m going to try one or more perennial ground cover that is not invasive. My goal is to ‘hide’ the Bermuda.
My 5 year old neighborhood is being taken over by Panicum Repens, i.e. torpedo, couch and quack grass etc. It has infested almost all the St. Augustine grass and is overgrowing my rear beds, and future plans. After 3 rounds of glysophate, it’s finally starting to retreat but I’m going to have to start over with zoysia.
Bermuda grass for sure in the sunnier areas. Its really hard to actually kill it because the roots are several feet deep. I just suppress it using cardboard and bark mulch every year. In shadier areas I have Japanese stiltgrass, which is SUPER easy to pull, but it is extremely invasive. I also use cardboard but since its roots are so shallow it takes off and I just can’t keep up. The worse thing is disturbing the Bermuda grass roots and not entirely digging it all up….for it to come back 10 times harder.
My most hated weed is sheep sorrel! Not only are the extensive horizontal roots impossible to pull because they are elastic and just snap but they will also root multiple feet into the ground. Then if you don’t get it out in time it flowers prolifically. One plant produces thousands of seeds that remain viable for decades. It is the bane of my garden. I have also dealt with Bermuda grass which is also a pain. In my old house I found it traveling under my neighbors driveway and into my yard. How do you fight something that isn’t phased by concrete? Lol.
Hi jim, being a Buford GA resident, Ive often wondered if I should give any of my evergreen shrubs-Nandinas, Loropetalum, Coppertops and FL sunshines, water during our winter? We rarely get rain. Ive asked people and most have told me once a month is good although we have to shut outside water spickets off in the fall, so I know it will take several buckets from inside the house, thought Id confirm with you!
Creeping charlie also called ground ivy and several other things but its the worst. I’ve tried to smother it and it had comeback through 12in of leaves. And theres actually very limited herbicides that will kill it. In terms of grassy weeds johnson grass, orchard grass and nutsedge are the worst here
I cannot adequately express my complete and utter disdain for Bermuda Grass and Creeping Charlie. I am seriously considering tearing up my flower beds and turning it into lawn. I have dug, pulled, cursed and cried. I hate it. And I live in coastal Virginia which is a breeding ground for that mess. I have dug 2 feet and there it is! Thanks for the article and confirming my frustrations.
Crab grass is just so hard to control here in north central Texas, zone 8a. The ranchers seed their field with crab grass because they say it is more nutritious for cattle. We treat with a pre-emergent in late winter (February) but we still find it in our yard and beds. Our best action is to water the area or wait for a nice soaking rain and then manually pull or dig it out of the ground.
As a young, inexperienced gardener I planted the old time Mexican petunias and they took over my life!!! It took digging 2 ft down and sifting 2 bags full of roots by hand out of the soil to be “rid” of them but I occasionally still have some pop up. I’ve been relying heavily on annuals in that spot until I feel like they’ve been eradicated. I don’t want to end up sacrificing another plant if they persist.
Bermuda grass! I have been fighting it in my gardens since I moved to zone 7a twenty-six yrs ago. Round up doesn’t work and depriving it of sunlight doesn’t work. Those are only temporary methods. I deprived (by way of a low, tight deck) a portion of my yard of sunlight for 26yrs and the minute I let sun back on it the grass took over. It will grow for yards over plants that shade the soil looking for a place to root, also. And, as is my curse with grass and hoses, will always trip you up. I also hate bind weed, strangle vine (which I think is called milk-weed vine) and nut grass. Scream! Scream!😱😱 oh, and you can’t leave out spurge.
I’ve got bermuda grass but it isn’t terrible, probably because it is so dry here. (Pacific Northwest…No rain since June.) However, there are the neighbors! The neighbor to my north has Lamium maculatum that creeps into my garden. The neighbor to my east has Vinca major, also readily creeping under the fence. And to my south, this neighbor has spreading bamboo! So I have to keep diligent.
A man fighting a losing battle! At least you have a great attitude. A short list: morning glory, sand bures, goat heads, crab grass, goose grass, nut grass, wild oats, oxalis, careless weed, pigweed, johnson grass, hinbit, stinging nettles, cocklebur. Don’t get me started on Eastern Red Cedar aka (Juniperus Virginiana) oh and it’s native for all the native lovers and Bradford Pear aka Callery Pear. lol
Bermuda somehow got into our centipede grass (I think the septic people seeded a mix with it after they did our drain field) and it is just in a ton of patches spread out over a large lot. I’ve sprayed it in areas where it was growing in bare soil (sand). Not sure what I’ll do about it in amongst the centipede.
I’ve never even considered not digging up Bermuda sod when starting a new bed. And whenever I see a sprig come up in my new bed, I immediately pull it out. That’s the only way I can control it. I cannot keep up with the edging in the summer. I’ve tried using grass killer when it comes up in my groundcovers, but the only effective way of eliminating it is to dig up the entire plant and get the grass out. We had liriope spicata when we first moved to our current home. It lined our back patio except for about a 2 foot opening, and my small dog couldn’t even get out over it. My husband physically dug it all out, as well as wild blackberry vines on two sides of the house, and we have not had any trouble with any of it coming back. I had only dealt with the clumping variety of liriope before and did not realize what a thug it is. I have a patch of wild strawberry and wild ageratum in one of my beds. I keep pulling both up when I see them and have been able to confine them to one small area so far. However, I am digging this entire area up later this month because they come up in a large clump of Georgia Blue Veronica and Clara Curtis mums, and I cannot completely eradicate them. I need to curtail the Clara Curtises anyway!
I sometimes joke that we moved to a new house to get away from the Bermuda grass that I couldn’t eliminate despite multiple attempts. We don’t have any here, our most worrisome weeds are Japanese Stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) and Mulberry Weed (Fatoua villosa). The Stiltgrass is all over the floodplain and trying to eliminate it there is like trying to boil the ocean, so my methods to discourage it mostly involve shading it out by planting more bottomland tree species. This won’t kill it, but does reduce its vigor substantially. I don’t allow it to grow anywhere near the garden. The Mulberry Weed probably came in a nursery container, and although we now have it mostly under control, I sometimes wonder whether we’ll ever be free of it.
When I moved into my house nearly 40 years ago, my yard was free of Bermuda grass and creeping charlie. About 20 some odd years ago, the Bermuda grass showed up and not too long after that, the creeping charlie crept in. I cannot state how much I hate, loath and despise both these plants. They are the bane of my existence and really diminish the joy I get from gardening.
I would have to say my most hated weed is the invasive running bamboo that I’ve been doing battle with over the past year. Last autumn I had a professional nursery cut down the bamboo in my back yard wooded area, chip it and spread the mulch over my back yard wooded area forest floor. It resprouted this past spring and I have spent all of this year cutting it back to the ground since then. I may have to resort to using some glyphosate in about a month to kill some remaining, and over the next few years, if necessary, as much as I hate to.
Would love some help! Bermuda grass is horrible here in coastal NC. I made four large above-the-ground herb beds. Against my better judgement, I didn’t layer cardboard before filling with compost and top soil. The Bermuda grass is coming up from two feet of soil! I’m not using fertilizer or Roundup on it, because these are medicinal herbs. I struggle with Bermuda and thistles and spurge weeds. Any ideas for me?!
I’m in zone 6, Columbus, Ohio so have no issues with Bermuda grass, but I’ve been trying to rid my yard of Houttuynia cordata, Chameleon plant, for over 20 years. I recently began a gardening project at my church and they have a 50sq ft. patch of it that needs to go ‘bye-bye! We tried digging a few weeks ago, but believe all we did was make it mad! It’s already coming back! Short of using a ’round-up’ type of herbicide, anyone have any ideas???
Isn’t it a shame that the plants we seem to hate grow the best!! For me I own two horses. The price hike in feed has caused me to turn my unproductive veggie garden into a field of Bermuda grass to help feed them. Here in zone 9b low AZ desert you can water any dry barren ground and low and behold Bermuda grass comes up!!! A bale of Bermuda grass has gone from $15 or $16 to $26 or $27 forcing people to get rid of their animals. So in my case for the price of water my horses now graze on my acre property.
I have 2 weeds ( there are others but these 2 are the worst) that I hate the most one is Bermuda grass it is everywhere in my yard it grows up and tangles in the branches of my shrubs it is hard to get rid of even if I spray it with round up it comes back, the other is a tree called Ailanthus altissima this is so horrible I hate this tree with a passion besides the bad odor it grows everywhere, I have a 2 1/2 acre yard and there are hundreds of these seedlings popping up ( yes I actually counted and stopped when I got to 100) and they grow incredibly fast, the wood around my property are populated with them, this is in East Tennessee.
I call it Satan’s carpet. Maybe it’s not rooting down that deep… maybe it’s risen up from the depths LOL. Here’s the only thing I found to work 95 percent of the time: put down 3 layers of overlapping cardboard (or just 1 layer landscape fabric) then dump a MINIMUM of 6 inches of free ChipDrop (arborists wood chips). A year later, pull up the landscape fabric since it isn’t good for the soil. That works!
I’m in zone 9a gulf coast south and I’ve been fighting Bermuda grass since the beginning of my gardening journey. I buried it with about 6 inches of compost on one new flower border and it took about a year but it’s poking up through the border again. I constantly pull it from the edges of all my flower beds to try and keep it out. That and nutsedge are the hardest to keep out of my garden.
No problems with weeds in my centipede lawn. It’s healthy so I don’t really have any weed problems…just the ocassional dandelion or some other common weed that can be easily pulled. If your turf grass is healthy and well cared for, you shouldn’t have any major weed problems. I have been battling nutsedge in my flowerbeds for several years. I hand dig and carefully follow the underground runner to another plant, but if I don’t stay on it my beds would be overrun. My dog likes to snack on the tender grassy leaves..only positive I can think of. The other weed that drives me crazy is creeping Jenny and poison ivy that comes over and through my wood privacy fence from my neighbor’s yard. It’s a constant battle.
Bermuda grass. I have been somewhat successful in scalping the grass, using a layer of cardboard, then hardwood much,, then create beds atop that with a 1 foot layer of my soil/compost/pine fines mix. it’s the only way I have been able to have flower beds. It really stinks to have to do all that work because of a stupid lawn. Hate is not a strong enough word for Bermuda..it should be banned as it epitomizes what an invasive plant is.