How to stop weeds in small garden bed?

heuristic

I got this thin strip in backyard, between concrete floor and wall, it's mostly shade in winter, I put mulch in there to prevent weeds, but it only last a few weeks. I wonder if there's a better way of dealing with weeds? The plants can be removed because they're all in pots.

I thought about replacing the mulch with fine gravel and do some compaction, but not sure if that can help, or will it still have weeds but just last a bit longer?

Thanks!

EricL

Hello @heuristic 

Thanks for sharing your question about your shade strip.

I suggest removing the plants and pavers along with the mulch that you can gather. Once you have all items removed, I recommend levelling the soil, there is no need to remove the weeds that are there now, but you can if you want to. 

I then propose laying down a layer of Pillar 1.8 x 10m Grey Geotextile Drainage Membrane Mat or similar. This will cover the soil preventing sunlight from reaching the weeds and inhibiting growth. To keep the fabric down, I suggest using Jack Galvanised Green Synthetic Turf Pegs.

Once the Geo fabric is secure you can then return the pavers and plants followed by the mulch. It will probably be necessary to add more mulch to the surface to hide the Geo fabric, but it will prevent the mulch from being immediately absorbed into the soil.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric