Help me stop the neighbours invasive grass!

[jaimeg]

Hello Everyone,

I have a butterfly garden off our patio in the back yard along the fence we share with our Neighbours. They have a (unknown to me) variety of ornamental grass that is sending out runners under the fence and competing with my liatris.

Any ideas how to stop the runners at the fence line? I've been digging them up to no avail. I was thinking of burring something to create a physical block, any ideas? Maybe a line of bricks?

Thanks in advance for your ideas!

J.

[DonnaZn2SK]

The bricks won't work, you'll have even a harder job weeding between the bricks. You need some sort of impenetrable barrier, set deep enough so that runners cannot go underneath the fence. Wood products will rot, I'm thinking maybe plastic panels, but you need to check whether there are drainage issues. You don't want to impede the flow of water across your property if that is the direction it's supposed to go. There might be some initial cost involved, but you are saving yourself time in the future. Good luck.

[davefrombc]

Plastic lawn edging might go deep enough to be a barrier to the ornamental grass if it uses shallow runners

[jaimeg]

hmm, the runners are right below the surface of the soil, not very deep. Maybe I'll try some landscape fabric tacked to the bottom of the fence and dig it down to about 6 inches. the fabric will let water flow through. Although there is no grade between the properties here, and it's not a long stretch of fence, so I'm not worried about water flow.

Thanks for the advice.

[davefrombc]

The lawn edging is often deep and rigid enough to stop bamboo roots from spreading so should be more than enough on the grasses.. I'm not sure the fabric would work as well. It is meant more to stop weed seeds from pushing their way up. I don't know how well it would work on stronger roots and rhizomes .

[Countryboy]

I'm with Dave. Landscaping fabric would have to be dug in... so would lawn edging... and to the same depth.

The lawn edging would stop runners from growing thru it... landscape fabric not so much.

[jaimeg]

Thanks for the advice. Lawn edging it is. I'll dig up what's invaded and then dig in some edging. Thanks for the helpful advice!

J.

[A Closet Canuck]

Thanks for the advice. Lawn edging it is. I'll dig up what's invaded and then dig in some edging. Thanks for the helpful advice!

J.

You could also try bender board. Public gardens use a metal strip that works like plastic edging. The product I'm thinking of is from Trex, the artificial deck board people. It is designed for garden bed edging, it doesn't rot, it doesn't deteriorate from the sun like plastic and it doesn' crack. In my experience, it is available through Home Depot but does have to be special ordered. Don't let them tell you the regular Trex decking will work; the correct product is Trex bender board.

You might look at which product is the tallest so it will sit in the ground most deeply - rhizomatous grasses are pretty clever at getting around barriers.