"Billy" wrote in message
news:wildbilly-9AF373.11035224052009@c-61-
"Mulching will get rid of most weeds, but Bermuda grass and its allies
and bindweed will come up through any mulch, sooner or later, except for
6 overlapping layers of cardboard, covered well beyond the grass border
by heavy black plastic, maintained for at least a year."

I've got a serious bindweed problem myself, but after a few years of
cardboard, the shoots that make it through are much smaller and more easily
removed. I think the cardboard just stresses it out after a while. Either
that or, since the ground is covered, the bindweed is no longer needed to
protect it.

One thing I noticed, though, when I had thick tangles of bindweed in between
my raised wooden beds in my first year of gardening, is that they were FULL
of spiders. I'd step into a patch and a dozen spiders would start crawling
up my leg. And I had NO bug problems that year. So maybe it's worth having
around for some reasons!
--S.