barking question

[kickassangel]

ok, so have just moved house & now have a MASSIVE garden in the USA. Northern midwest, great lakes area, near Canada.

the borders we have are a little neglected. they used to have reddish barking (now faded to pinky orange) which is a very thin layer. grass & weeds are growing through.

should i just remove the old barking, do a thorough weed, then put on some more top soil & newer barking?

not even sure that i'm a fan of the stuff, does it really stop all weeds? what other purpose does it have? is it much lower maintenance than an earth border with good coverage by shrubs?

i am looking for low maintenance, as i will be spending several hours a week caring for the (currently) very rough grass with brown patches & boggy bits.

It can stop pretty much all weeds, but you need to have a good thick layer for it to work - something like 2 inches deep I think. That way when the weed seeds in the soil germinate, they give up before they reach the light! If you have weeds with thick roots, you should try to get all the root out as they have more "reserve fuel" to regrow before they need to get to light.