How to stop the grass and unwanted plants growing in the garden?I want a permanant low cost solution.?

I have fruit trees in the garden.I dont want to harm them,but I want to stop the growth of weeds,grass and unwanted plants growing rapidly all over the place.Give me low cost expert solutions.

How to stop the grass and unwanted plants growing in the garden?I want a permanant low cost solution.?
add an edge to the garden, fill it up THICKLY with mulch such as hay, bark etc.



spray the outline of the garden with STRONG fertilizer, such as ROUND UP. the grass and weeds will suck up the fertiziler and die from its intensity. if you spray the outline once a fortnight, the grass and it's friendly weeds won't have chance of getting in there from the sides. and if any of them decide to poke their little heads up through the mulch, a simple pull and throw will get rid of them quickly.



we bought a $30 bottle of round up 2 years ago, and still use it twice a month. it's very affordable.
Reply:Newspaper. Use old newspapers to cover the ground and then mulch on top. The weeds won't grow through and the newspaper biodegrades. You'll have to replace it over time but not often. Any little weeds that do fly in won't have a strong hold and can quickly be pulled.



There is no way to 'never' have weeds again.



You are so lucky to have fruit trees. Cool!
Reply:Buy a goat.
Reply:Weeding by hand comes to mind. No chemicals.
Reply:Any type of mulch, pile it on good and thick.
Reply:I'd second the idea of a thick layer of newspaper covered with mulch. Choose a day that's not windy and lay the papers down at least 10 or more pages thick. Keep the hose handy and wet them down to hold them in place. Cover with a layer of mulch - I've used wood chips in my home garden and also in my professional work. For an orchard I might use other materials as suggested by others here.

If you have "pick your own" farms nearby it might be helpful to check out how they do it. An apple farm that I know has created "paths" of grass through the orchard. These paths are just as wide as the mower so they're easy to maintain. A few years ago they edged and weeded the rows of trees and then covered these bare areas with mulch. This took a great deal of time (and some student assistance) but the weed growth has been quite limited since then with the path being cut regularly and the path edges being 'done' a couple times a year with a gas edger.
Reply:Try ditching the grass and covering it with cement.



The thing about nature is that without man intervention it'll overgrow anything within an amount of time.
Reply:i don't know the kind of fruit trees you have but a good plant that tolerates shade are hostas,i have them planted at the base of my trees and they do great at keeping the weeds and grass down and they look great as a base for the tree.maybe not the answer your looking for but just an idea.good luck and happy gardening.
Reply:it's not 'low cost', but it is the best I know... go to a nursery... one that has a tarp-like ground cover all over their sales area... find out where to get it and use that.... with or without mulch.... whatever you put there must allow water, nutrients and air to reach the soil for the trees....the groundcover material the nursery uses will do that....and it's tough and will last for a good time.... it's much better than the landscape fabric that us plain folks can buy at a home store.... so you'll need to order it from a greenhouse supply store, I'm pretty sure.... so there's another place to look.... anyone have a commercial greenhouse with a ground cover fabric on it's soil?.....ask them....
Reply:The best thing to do is cover it with mulch and make shure it is on very thick it keeps the moisture in the garden and very few weeds will grow you can get it from most tree surgery company's for free or maby the cost of a carton of beer trust me I'm a tree surgeon it pays to shop around
Reply:use a weed barrier fabric and cover with a good clean mulch. mulch from saw mill has to much tannic acid, best to use store bought mulch
Reply:You can cut up black, plastic garbage bags....or use black plastic from a hardware store and lay it down, then cover with more dirt or mulch.



You could plant a low-growing ground cover, but this is more pricey.



You could also use pre-emergent. Pre-emergent helps stop weeds from growing for long periods of time and doesn't hurt plants that are already established.