I need good ideas for dealing with our driveway border problem!
We're in Zone 7a. We have an asphalt driveway. Next to that is a wire grass-filled border, about 30' x 3'. A low wooden edge, right at ground level, is supposed to separate the yard from the driveway border.
It was mulch-filled when we moved in, with small shrubs planted there. We didn't know that right under that mulch was a carpet of wire grass, which soon grew right over to bite into the edge of the asphalt driveway. Under the wire grass, about 10" straight down is a THICK layer of construction gravel, and red clay soil...and the little shrubs were new plants that promptly died under terrible growing conditions when their roots baked over the thick gravel layer in August. The mulch washed away over the winter. Nothing left there but the wire grass.
Thought about making our wiregrass border into a brick or stone walkway, leading to the mail box...even though I'm not sure how to do that yet! Or apply a layer of little white landscaping pebbles, with stepping stones between the landscaping pebbles for a walkway.
A couple of weeks ago, I put weed killer on the wire grass border, and it all turned brown, but it has since started growing back. We tried digging it out, but the tough wire grass roots run about 9" or 10" under the dirt, are super-durable, and there's always more of it to come back! I think when you try to dig it up you just make it grow back better than before. We think wire grass thrives on a thick layer of hot construction gravel mixed with pure clay soil.
Should I apply more brush killer, or get the kind of stronger weed killer that stays in the soil for up to a year? (that seems more environmentally dangerous?)
The main need right now is to keep that aggressive wire grass from tearing up the asphalt. Secondary desire is that it would be pretty instead of ugly. Any suggestions?
We're in Zone 7a. We have an asphalt driveway. Next to that is a wire grass-filled border, about 30' x 3'. A low wooden edge, right at ground level, is supposed to separate the yard from the driveway border.
It was mulch-filled when we moved in, with small shrubs planted there. We didn't know that right under that mulch was a carpet of wire grass, which soon grew right over to bite into the edge of the asphalt driveway. Under the wire grass, about 10" straight down is a THICK layer of construction gravel, and red clay soil...and the little shrubs were new plants that promptly died under terrible growing conditions when their roots baked over the thick gravel layer in August. The mulch washed away over the winter. Nothing left there but the wire grass.
Thought about making our wiregrass border into a brick or stone walkway, leading to the mail box...even though I'm not sure how to do that yet! Or apply a layer of little white landscaping pebbles, with stepping stones between the landscaping pebbles for a walkway.
A couple of weeks ago, I put weed killer on the wire grass border, and it all turned brown, but it has since started growing back. We tried digging it out, but the tough wire grass roots run about 9" or 10" under the dirt, are super-durable, and there's always more of it to come back! I think when you try to dig it up you just make it grow back better than before. We think wire grass thrives on a thick layer of hot construction gravel mixed with pure clay soil.
Should I apply more brush killer, or get the kind of stronger weed killer that stays in the soil for up to a year? (that seems more environmentally dangerous?)
The main need right now is to keep that aggressive wire grass from tearing up the asphalt. Secondary desire is that it would be pretty instead of ugly. Any suggestions?