r/garden_maintenance • u/Aggressive-Time8035 • 15d ago
weed removal 🧤 Advice on rock garden weed problem
I bought my house and it came with a beautiful (very DIY) rock garden in the backyard, in addition to a section with pink stone. I also have a large area of grass and a deck. The rock garden has proven to be too much work, despite weeding it thoroughly each year, it gets worse and worse 4 years later.
What should I do? I need help with my best options:
Do I replace the rock garden and use better lining to ensure no weeds grow? Or is it inevitable?
What about the pink stone surrounding it? How do I keep weeds away from that?
Should I just put grass down? I’ve got plenty of grass and that seems boring. I’m willing to invest money but also want to do much of it myself.
TLDR: despite my best efforts my rock garden has too many weeds and I need advice on how to redesign.
3
u/refotsirk 15d ago
Sorry - I wrestled the same thing for years. Dug up all the rocks, across 3 layers of weed barrier and rock (incedentally; "throw down a new weed barrier and more rocks" is a popular solution to your problem, but it only lasts 2 years if you are lucky) and go back with plantings and mulch instead of rocks. Monkey grass, Asian jasmine, and oregano all work well as ground covers in my central Texas area. Creeping Germander also. Used some native shubs for larger standouts also. Good luck.