I put down 6 inch wide strips of a vinyl floor remnant under my chain link (only in the front side of the house, not the whole perimeter). About 2 inches onto the neighbor's side and 4 inches on mine. 20something years later, it's still there and there are no weeds under the fence.

Thanks for that idea! I never thought about putting down a barrier like that. Can you still see the remnant? Does it look ok?

It's not noticable unless I'm weeding or inspecting the beds. It got dirty fast and it's hidden by the plants on my side and the grass on the neighbor's. Still works, that's the main thing.

Try a solution using salt, baking soda and vinegar. That should kill all your grass along the fence.

How would you mix the solution? What strengths?

Thanks!

Carpet strips turned pile-side down also work, & they won't contaminate your soil.

We have a wood fence and the neighbors grass and weeds keep coming over and we were going to lay down some black plastic but I felt that the weeds would just push that up.

I am having a hard time visualizing a piece of carpet or vinyl floor just slid under the fence. How would it stay in place and do you put anything over it to conceal it?

Thanks for any help! I would rather do that than staple black plastic to my whole fence line like my hubby wanted to do. I do have some of that barrier plastic that is on a roll to put between the grass and flower bed but we never used it. Would that work too? Just cutting off sections and slidig it under the fence. I don't know if it would be visible to the neighbors or not.

Thanks for any suggestions!!! I don't want any chemicals in my flower bed.

Shawn

If the thought of seeing strips of tan carpet or vinyl floor backing, even temporarily, bothers you how about this:

Get rid of the weeds first so you're looking at a strip of dirt under the fence. You'll find that by pulling the weeds, the dirt will get lower than the fence edge.

Lay down some heavy black landscaping plastic, then cover with a perpendicular row of bricks or flat rocks.

You want to prevent weeds and grass from growing directly under the fence. The barrier also gives lawn mower wheels something to ride on and then you don't have to worry about weed-wacking. Looks neat on both sides of the fence.

I'd discuss it with your neighbor first. When I did mine, there was an empty lot on the other side of my fence--Talk about weeds!

Thank you so much for your help. I had wanted to do bricks but it is a long fence line and we already have to lay a barrier from the weeds growing into the garden from the lawn.

As far as the neighbors it isn't that we don't like one another but last year they sprayed my fence with chemicals when I had asked them not to and their pressure washer had pushed all their weeds and grass under the fence as well after I had spent days weeding it. I had waterproofing chemicals as well as some white stuff that hardened on my plants and in my garden bed. I was steaming and wrote them a letter and he apologized but since then they don't speak to us.

They also have a great dane and a pug living there so I really don't want to spray weed killer under the fence and I wonder if they would pull it out.

So I think the conclusion will have to be the black plastic and then something on top. I wanted something decorative like huge cool rocks so maybe I will have to just collect some rocks too. ;)

Thank you again Diane!!! I appreciate your help!
Shawn

this might sound dumb! but used motor oil will do the trick it will take a few weeks but the weeds will not come back.

shotty66, I don't think it's a good idea to use motor oil as a weed preventative. It's a serious pollutant and can remain in the soil for long periods of time because oil is not water soluble and therefore does not break down.

I agree, you don't want to contaminate the soil, as it can get into the groundwater. And if you have well water that can be a health hazard. In addition, it can also run into streams and harm wildlife.

kim31kim are you still getting email responses to this or is the email system completely broken?

I have seen indoor/outdoor carpet used is some places, it looks almost like grass.

A solution I used was to lay down a barrier fabric and add some bricks upon that to form a planter and then fill the planter with dirt and grow some tough low laying plant like rosemary in the planter along the fence.

does anyone have any pics of how the plastic strips would look?

Asphalt roofing works great and is more attractive than flooring vinyl. You can get it in many colors and if you buy the roll type, you can cut it in strips any width you want.

I just pulled the weeds and planted those orange daylilies like you see in side ditches about three feet apart. Now a couple of years later, I have beautiful line of blooms and I don't have to weed or trim there either.

We use a propane torch, one of those with a long stem on it so you don't have to bend over, on our fence line. Have to do it a few times a year but its pretty simple maintenance.

i use generic round up, glyphosphate is avail on Ebay for around 60.00 or so for 2.5 gallons, enough to make 300 gallons of finished product. i spray about once a month, takes less than 15 gallons to do my whole property.

i used round-up and surflan A S. round up kills and surflan as is a pre emergent, which keeps the weeds from coming back.

You should NEVER use Roundup!!

Jack Crowley

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The HOA we live in has a 2 mile fence line. Using a rotary spreader at the largest setting I put down 2.6 pounds of salt per square foot in late winter, just before a snow or light rain. No vegetation all year long. Southern States has 50 pound bags at $6.30 per bag.