Any tricks to stop grass growing in flower beds?

[starlingdarling]

I dug a small flower bed on the side of the lawn last summer. At the time I added a few inches of compost while planting, then I added another inch or two in November. We have horrible, rubble filled clay so it could use a lot of help. Since digging it in last spring, lots of patches of grass have popped up in the bed. I added another inch or two of compost and then covered in small bark in spring and I'm still out there quite regularly trying to pull grass out. Are there any secret tips to keep it away?

I have similar and don’t know of a cure other than pulling/digging it out by the root. It does diminish with time.

If its a small area can you sweep up the bark, the top layer of compost and put weed control membrane down cut holes in it so that only the flowers can grow though then put the compost and bark back over the top. A wooden border might stop any grass seed blowing over, you can buy it in rolls quite cheaply.

Ah it's too late for weed membrane. There are snowdrops, daffodils and crocus buried in there and I wouldn't want to lose them. Think I might just be pulling it out for the foreseeable and hopefully it will slow down. I'll be doing the no dig method next time!

Pull out all the grass that is already in the border and put in a lawn edging to provide a physical barrier against tillers

This idea from a garden I visited.
Grass, gap, bricks. Neat.

Oh that's genius! DH does the lawn and gets annoyed at not being able to get the edges by the flower bed so it kills two birds with one stone. Now I just need to work up the motivation to get digging. At least it's raining today. The first time I tried I waited for a spell of dry days thinking the soil wouldn't be so heavy... it was rock hard and the shovel hit the ground then bounced back at me

The grass will keep trying to grow into that gap.. in fact anything will do you'd have to keep on top of it. This photo was taken probably within a day or two of it being edged with one of those moon edging tools (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Green-Jem-Carbon-Steel-Edging/dp/B004TRRV8Y/ref=ascdff_B004TRRV8Y/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=375428700198&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11409248353196427736&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007245&hvtargid=pla-814953605753&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=77605855900&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=375428700198&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11409248353196427736&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007245&hvtargid=pla-814953605753

Though I find edging the lawn quite a satisfying job. Maybe you could put some gravel or something in that gap to try to discourage it , but keep in mind that would make the edging tool really tricky to use and gravel might end up falling onto the actual lawn, get clogged into the lawn mower. Umm ... I think I've just talked you out of the gravel idea 😂

If you Google "lawn edging" it comes up with some products like those from Everedge. I think you definitely need some kind of barrier.

I just have a row of pieces of York stone round the edge, making an edging of about 30cm. You could do it with a double row of bricks - you need that sort of width for a defendable border. Set it level or slightly lower than the lawn, then you can run one wheel of the mower along it, and you don’t need to do any edging because the mower will cut right to the edge. You will have to remove any runners trying to make their way across.

Weeds will grow if there is soil to grow into. That's what they do.

Little and often is the key, as soon as you see a blade, just pull it out.

We have small tools dotted around the garden just for this, so that we can lever the soil up and get as much root as possible.

Grass will grow through any crack so edging will slow it down but it won't get rid of it.

Thanks all. Think It's going to be a combination of regular edging, a barrier and pulling the tufts out. I have to confess I've only done the edging a couple of times since last year. Our soil is so full of rubble it takes forever so I struggle to find it meditative but it is rather satisfying to look at afterwards