how to keep grass growing in strub/bushes beds (trees, weeds, spring)

[miscus555]

whats the best way to keep patches of grass growing in your beds?

I live in NY and every year during spring clean up I have to battle getting all the grass out of the beds. during the summer, I try to do maintenance and either dig it out or kill with roundup. I try to take it out in the fall so it won't really show up in the spring.

i cultivate and it still grows back. I don't put down mulch for 2 reasons- because all the springtails fester under it and migrate into the house. 2nd when i had mulch the grass grew underneath it so thick that i had to shovel and pitchfork it out. took forever. so i just leave it as dirt. i'd like to put down mulch but i don't want it to grow again in the beds so thick.

any ideas as to what i can do each season? they don't infest from the actual lawn, its just patches of grass randomly in the beds. if i leave them, obviously the patches will connect.

thanks in advance!

[need4speed2012]

Use edgers

[Butterflybush56]

Hi Miscus555,

I know you have your reasons for not using mulch, but ultimately that is the best way to smother weeds around trees and bushes. You can always keep it edged up with a weedeater, which would slice the new grass and weeds from coming in the bed. I have thought about trying the higher acidity vinegar to kill weeds and grass.

[Sarahsez]

I've had luck putting actual borders around my beds. I have rocks, but you can use pavers. Edge around the border. Spray roundup around the border to discourage grass from trying to creep back in. Dig out the grass and weeds. You can put down plastic or weed barrier and then mulch on top of that. Birds and the wind will deposit weed seeds in your beds. It's easier to pull out weeds if you have the mulch down. .

I'm not familiar with springtails. Maybe you need a pesticide to discourage them. I guess you could also mulch with rocks instead of bark mulch if you wanted to keep food supply down.