I also live in Georgia and the first year we ran into this same problem. As the wood chips breakdown, stay persistent with pulling the runners and as it breaks down and get a little more compact the grass literally stays out of our garden. Our back to eden garden is AMAZING compared to our normal red clay gardens around here. I wished I can post pictures.

I love such videos, they're so rare. People usually are afraid of talking about the serious negative nuances of something that is mindlessly revered by the masses.

The bermuda is doing very well in my raised beds, thank you. We put boxes down, in just a few months it grows right though the boxes. But our tomatoes thrive in it just fine. :)

Just watched, Back to Eden, and got super excited about starting a garden in my backyard. Then I came across you video and before watching became discouraged. But after watching your video tips all the way through, I am super excited 😜 again! 😂

This was a fantastic video. I appreciated all the laughs!!! Appreciate you sharing the tips you learned along your journey 🙌🥂

I’m so glad I ran across your video today. I live in Missouri, and I have been gardening for 50 years. As new information has come out, I have tried different methods. Last year I did a new no dig garden. The Bermuda grass has just about killed my soul. I feel your frustration. Thanks for the excellent tips. You may have given me the will to continue on.

Thanks! I live in the Sacramento Valley and am just starting to convert my backyard Bermuda lawn into a vegetable and fruit tree guild garden. I was so impressed watching the Back to Eden movie that I was going to try the 12 inches of wood chips - but thanks to you I now will be placing some cardboard paper over my soil and then making beds on top of that which will exclude the Bermuda. I think you just saved me a *ton* of work!

Great tips!! We live in Georgia and I lived exactly what you described in this video. 😊 year one was a nightmare! I took small sections at a time and dug it all up. I laid old rugs on top of the areas that I wasn’t working on to keep it under control till I got it all done.

I have used back to eden for the last few years and I have today I love it :) They do break down over time and make lovely compost, they have improved really terrable soil

I always heard that you should start the Back to Eden garden in the late fall, so that the dormant weeds and grass dies before they can break through the broken down cardboard layer and through the mulch. Also, the cardboard goes over any compost that you put down. It worked for me here in TX.

Great advice on dealing with creeping grasses. They aren't found everywhere, but I have come across them from time to time. I especially like the trench idea - a physical barrier separating the gardening area from the grass area. Of course it needs to be inspected periodically, just like the garden itself.

Wow, thank you! We are on year 2 of our back to Eden garden in TN and the Bermuda grass is a major problem.

I tried woodchips....you are perfectly right!...yours advices are precious! Thank you

I just found your channel. So glad to find another Southern with the struggle with Bermuda.

Thank you so very much! I just moved to Tennessee, and was going to try it. Worked great in California.

I’m in eastern Washington state and dealing with Bermuda just as you described. I will get the cardboard and chips idea this spring. Thank you.

Mate your channel is really good, quality info, straight to the point. Love it👌

Thanks for addressing this. I’ve started my BTE garden and this is absolutely an issue. Also, lots of pine here that isn’t addressed in the documentary.

Yes we do have creeping grasses in the north. Yes I am battling it. Your tips were good. I'm finding that maintaining the edge is most important.

Thank you for affirming and explaining what my gut was telling me. I live in western Maryland and between the creeper grass and the deep rooted perennial weeds like dandelions and dock I knew that cardboard and mulch wasn’t going to stop the weeds. Doing the hard work of weed removal up front will save me a lot of work in the long run.

I had the same issue with the bermuda here in Arkansas. I ran a 2' wide strip of old carpet around the perimeter of my garden. It did a great job of preventing intrusion

Thank You. 3rd video I've watched on your channel, REALLY LOVE, your approach to common problems. Now I need to get to work in my yard.

Omg, have I had this problem!! A0nd you're right, wood chips alone are not the answer as we've been told. Plus, here in Florida we have lots of creeper weeds. You're the first to address these problems. Thank you!

All good points and it’s especially smart that you mentioned what I call maintaining a defensible parameter to keep the dreaded Bermuda grass from creeping back in. Unfortunately that can be even more of a challenge when it’s creeping in from under the fence from neighbors’ unkempt yards. 😖

Amazing video!! Thank you so much! Another thing that could work in regards to tip 6, less work but more expensive is a barrier. They recommend them for bamboo because bamboo is an invasive grass. For Bermuda grass the rhizomes are usually about 6-8 inches deep, so using a 15 inch tall barrier will help prevent the rhizomes underground, and hinder the stolons above ground if you leave the barrier exposed above ground. Just don't trip on it!

I moved to Tn a few years ago and made over 15 raised beds. Never had a problem with these weeds until this year. I only use chips in the paths I put down plastic or some other cover. Working well. Glad for your tips I know now a little more. Up north everything dies off in winter down south nothing dies. I never saw a red ant until I moved. They are killing me I could use a video about them. LOL. Thank you

Thanks for sharing about your experience. I've heard of a concept of creating and edge for spreading roots by planting a hedgerow of deep-rooting plants to sort of create an underground fence. Maybe with a non-spreading variety of comfrey...

What I learned from Paul was to lay newspapers or cardboard down before the chips. So that is what I have done, a few weeds pop up occasionally because I did not overlap the cardboard proper.

My battle in Mississippi would be Kudzu vine, St. Augustine grass, Bermuda grass AND Bahaia grass. I'm buying the.property next door specifically to do a food forest/BTE garden, and so glad your video popped up. Thanks!

I lived this!! Back to Eden in Virginia a few years ago. We bought a bank-owned property that had 3 foot high grass at the back. Apparently, before that property was turned to residential it was pasture, so bermuda grass was intentionally planted. I laid out cardboard and then had almost a FOOT of woodchips over it. With every year the bermuda grass got worse. We could almost see it grow in July/August when it was so hot everything else died. That bermuda grass had the deepest rhizomes I had ever seen - some went 18 inches down or more. They were THICK too - like the size of a McDonald's straw - or a pinky finger. (hmm.. just read someone else's comment. I wonder if we had Johnson grass too. We probably fought them both....) Wood chips made it easier to pull them out, but every year our garden got smaller because we were losing the battle despite weeding every day for hours. We were talking about burying a metal barrier or something at the edges to keep out the rhizomes. But in the end, we moved north, to Ohio, where I am in love with the fact that my most evil weed is the wild violet. :) This is such a necessary video - glad you shared it. Evil, evil Bermuda grass almost killed our love of gardening.

Thanks for this. I've been thinking of starting a plot with this method in Central Oklahoma. Bermuda grows everywhere except where I want it. It's even found it's way into my raised beds. Hate that stuff.

You're Fun, Jeff. Thanks for sharing.

thanks for the motivation and the advice, we started 10 months ago little by little, blessings

Here in west Texas, we have a VERY hardy (Alisha) bermuda grass. It's a blessing for live stock but a curse for a garden. I tilled an scooped out the garden area a foot deep with my front end loader to clear the grass and put a sheet metal fence around it. Your idea about the ditch was excellent! I enjoy your videos.

1st time viewer. Love your style, subbed We live in Victoria Canada across the straight from Paul. Not interested in BTE gardening ourselves but wood chips look great in our paths ;) Your garden looks great btw!! Cheers

We recently moved to Alabama from Michigan & started the back to Eden with one layer of cardboard and 6-8 inches of wood chips, but the Bermuda Grass came up through it like crazy, so the next section we did we put two and three layers of cardboard overlapped really well and then 12 inches of Wood chips thinking that would work, but it had no effect on the Bermuda grass. I just can’t hardly believe how crazy this stuff is! Our plan now is to put down the woven landscape fabric that they use in gardens to kill it off. Hopefully after it’s all dead, we can go back to the wood chip garden, because the looks of the black plastic isn’t as attractive for the neighborhood. Thanks for the good information!

Been doing this method 3 yrs now, living in Tennessee. Still learning little things here and there but overall. So much less work on pulling weeds. I typically add more mulch in the fall or early spring before the grass start poking through here and there it takes upkeep just like everything else. But still the garden gets better every year.

Hey Jeff, Yost here. I was surfing YT and was delighted to see an old friend. I'm no longer even close to the south, so Bermuda isn't an issue. Last year we moved to northern Michigan where the growing season can be up to several hours long. I'm mainly planting trees and making furniture from reclaimed wood. PM was my 9th startup to crash and burn, so I've hung up my cleats and retired from software. I don't miss it a bit. I'm loving life these days. Best to you and yours. -Mike

I don't know what kind of grass grows where I live but: It will send a runner down under that trench. It can send runners up to three feet underground before poking up a blade. Then, when you pull that tuff of grass, you break the runner which sends up 4-5 other shoots. making the problem worst. Cardboard don't smother it You need an edging shovel to cut a line 6" into the soil periodically. Then remove grass from the beds. That way, the runner has it's life force cut from both ends.

This was very helpful. Thank you so much!!

Am I glad that I found your presence here!!! Bermuda Grass is not my friend neither. Western North Carolina here!!!

I’m in Georgia and we have plenty of Bermuda grass here. I seriously thought about doing the back to Eden garden with wood chips and you saved me a whole lot of time and energy. Thank you!!

Very very true, have a serious issue with the bermuda grass, its like a demon weed. I did pile up a lot of mulch and have rich soil with lots of the invasive grass. Very good tips!!!!! Thank you

You've gave me a couple ideas on your concepts! Thanks for the video :]

After living in Oklahoma, this is 💯 true. The grass was so bad, only the Okra survived. Great for cows, not so much for growing gardens as it was a losing battle. Hay is the Ruth stout method! Wish I had known about it then. I live in the Pacific Northwest now and it’s SO much easier to garden here. I use both the stout and Eden method here and love it!

Great video Jeff. I have the same issue in Texas

Thank it really helps all this info. From Mexico gracias!!

I love your advice to try something. Thanks

We’ve done a Back to Eden and hacked it by using landscape cloth. We actually talked about it in a recent video. We’ll pull the cloth at the end of the season, the replace it next spring and remulch. But we are in the northeast and don’t have Bermuda.

Thank you. We call it Couch grass here.... South Africa. Excellent video. Valuable info before doing Back-to-Eden gardening. Just a thought..... On the edge of the garden I'd run a shallow concreted ditch with shallow 1 brick high wall on top .... less effort to maintain once in place.

That looks just like my wood chip garden!! Thanks for this video!!

informative and highly entertaining heh. thank you!

An interesting video. I live in England and we don’t have Bermuda Grass but we do have something similar called Couch Grass which also spreads by creeping roots. I am trialling wood chips in two raised beds, one growing brassicas and the other grew dwarf beans which have just finished and so far so good. I find that although wood chips do not stop all weed growth and weeds that appear are easily pulled out, including the aforesaid Couch Grass.

That trench may help, but landscaping guy told me the Bermuda roots can go 3 feet down and a block away underground! I fought Burmuda for years! Deep grass clippings mulch helped but it was always there at the edges in no time

Before i knew about back to eden we used cardboard. Worms love that zone on top of the soil and cardboard. You appear to have very thin woodchips. You are warmer than SW Missouri. Our Bermuda at least gets stunted.Appreciate your experience. The perimeter trench is definitly good if you are plagued with constant invasive bermuda. BEST Wishes!

You could also over-seed with clover to out compete the the grass and embrace your green top garden.

Have you discovered Growing Back to Eden KZfaq channel? It is done by Nick who lives on site and helps Paul. He is doing a great job of getting deeper into all the little details and pieces that are missed and skimmed over in the other videos and the film. He also does live chats with Paul answering peoples questions every now and again.

The premise of your video is wrong, Im in BC Canada, above Washington state and we have grass like that everywhere.

Thanks for a great video! Bermuda grass is a gardener's arch enemy in the desert southwest. -Tucson Terry

Thanks...just the right information at the right time for us.🙂

Whoa, I’m in school. So glad I watched. Thx

Thanks Jeff! Here in northeast Iowa we have quack grass, it also spreads by the roots. Somewhere I read that you should attempt at least 3 layers of cardboard on problem spots. I only did one layer last year, and still have a few areas. I also strategically placed a compost pile over a problem spot for a year, not sure if that was a good idea or not. My grandmother had gorgeous flower beds all over her property and she always trenched a moat around them, now I know why!

Paul kept adding wood chips to reduce weed growth every year. Bermuda grass is crazy but I’d still do the Back 2 Eden method as it worked great in Central Florida, the whole area was covered over every year with wood chips and hay during the fall & summer.

We have started digging a trench between the garden plot and the grass, putting down cardboard, and then filling it with wood chips. We have a level path to walk on, and it is super easy to pull the bermuda and the bindweed that are thick in the grassy area. Bindweed spreads much deeper, so just a trench doesn't stop it in our experience.

So helpful! Thanks!!😁

Thx! Great info... & very entertaining!

I live in the capital of California and I can tell you this grass is a big problem here too. And yes it grows up into my raised beds

Bermuda is a survivor. The rhizomes can lie dormant for years or through a drought, and then with the first sign of water they will reanimate. After years of fighting it, we started covering parts of our garden with a deep (more than a foot) layer of leaves for a couple of months or more, then using a broad fork to loosen the soil deep and pull the bindweed and bermuda rhizomes (and the rocks). Dug a lot of the composting leaves in and then covered with a thick bed of leaves again. Then wait a couple more months, watering it to keep the soil damp, pulling any stray grass that comes up. Then uncover, spot dig again if needed, and plant. Doing this we were able to gradually increase the "good" parts of the garden little by little. Meanwhile, perimeter control is absolutely imperative. Even if you can't get everything, getting what you can see will prevent the underground parts of the plant from getting new energy. Eventually they will run out of energy stores and be done. So don't think that if you can't dig it all up, hoeing or burying it under mulch is pointless - even if it's not sufficient it helps. Bermuda seed is everywhere but it's super easy to deal with if you take care of it before it spreads. Minimizing bare soil makes all the difference.

Instead of the ditch, try adding a living rhizome barrier in that same area. Comfrey would work great and once it’s established it will be less maintenance. Also gives the added benefit of stacking functions- pollinator attractor, medicinal use, you can also use it to make various forms of liquid fertilizer (compost tea, Jadam method, etc.)

Really glad to see your video pop up in the suggestions. We just moved back to my parents land (from a surburbian yard of Bermuda that I thought was terrible), only to find out that the Johnson grass roots under the ground here are 10 times the size of Bermuda. Probably the size of my pinky finger, and super deep. I’m not really sure what is going to work, but we are probably going to start with raised beds and lots of layers of cardboard… Maybe dig it out as many roots as possible, then later the cardboard in the raised beds? 🤷‍♀️

Thanks for the info! While I haven't yet done it myself, I think Sean from Edible Acres has success by creating a rhizome barrier around the garden with a row of comfrey. It would seem that a densely planted line of rhubarb would also thwart the spread, in the right context. There are probably others, but those are the two that jump to mind. I appreciate your insights and experience with this!

Thanks so much. Yeah enthusiastic start with huge effort but bindweed and Bermuda came happily under the mulch even with cardboard fairly thick.

great video! I wondered about this,. we have the same grass as well

Thank you for the information

The same applies to many other creeping and invasive weeds in other countries and locations. I have had to abandon the wood chip idea as we have couch grass, Elymus repens, common in most of Europe. This thrives under a woodchip cover and the suckers and runners go everywhere and cannot be removed without digging. I have even covered areas with black polythene and cardboard and the stuff still comes back. Of course, the more fertile and rich your garden becomes, the more the couch grass thrives. I think the advice you give about Bermuda grass also applies to this, though but I find it a constant battle even in small beds lined with concrete blocks. The grass is always finding its way underneath.

Bermuda has been my bane. Thanks for these tips!

Amen, brother! Every time I see one of these wood chip garden videos I wonder if these people ever heard of Burmuda grass. I have fought it from Cprpus Christi to I-20, and victories have beeen few and fleeting. I am using hay now. Tried cardboard for a few years, but the Burmuda just turns yellopw and keeps growing under the cardboard. And our frequent HIGH winds send the cardboard flying, There are not enough bricks in Texas to hold it down. These days I'm concentrating more on fruit and nut trees and doing most of the vegetables in raised beds. Best of luck to yoiu and all gardeners. ns

Just starting. I have a ton of that super strong crab or Bermuda grass 😓 thanks for the tips! I hadn’t found too much info on how to deal w it it I found this video. 🙏🏼 thanks

Thanks for the tips.

Thank you for all the tips. I think the trench around the garden may help with my creeping charlie issue in WI.

Great tips on the Bermuda grass/weed. I have only watched a few of His videos so have not yet checked his specific location in Wa state, but I can tell you we do have Bermuda grass in Ca. The downfall is weeds of some kind regardless of location, hense the work of organic

You could and should address the Southwest in this regard. We've got more than one kind of creeping grass out here on the coast. It wasn't that many years ago that I realized the gardeners that haul their lawnmowers around the neighborhood are probably one of the main reasons that these grasses are everywhere. I don't know the various genus/species of these grasses; Bermuda is one, and a very coarse textured one called St. Augustine. I'm gratified that I've been doing some things right according to your video above.

Cardboard and newspaper best idea .... Thanks for the tips!

I'm doing this in the center of my front yard. I'd removed my lawn decades ago though, because there was a bit too much shade overhanging branches from the Maple, and from grapes we used to have trailing around the arbor, and the grass simply wouldn't thrive. The only thing I get sprouting now with the shredded wood mulch I laid down is bird seed that my husband insists on hanging around the arbor. All I do is take the edge of my sharp hoe once a week or so and uproot and turn them over. I leave them there to decompose. When I started doing this around mid June, the soil in the central area of my front yard ( about 9'X9') was hardened and dusty gray in color. Now I'm getting some rich loamy soil out of it, and by next spring I'm going to start gardening in that section too. It's working out pretty well for me. Put down the shredded wood thick enough and it's hard for such seedlings to establish much of a root.

thanks for the humor. Gotta have a sense of humor when gardening.

We live pretty close to Paul here in western Washington and I did have a huge problem with the grass growing through. We have several different kinds of grass and some of them absolutely love the wood chips. But I wasn't ready to let this method go despite having to shovel my 12" later of wood chips aside and lay 2 more layers of cardboard, section by section until I had gone through the whole 13 x 30 foot garden bed. It was a summer's worth of work. Now, for new garden sections, I lay down 4-6 layers of cardboard first to be sure that grass is choked out. And monitor the edges every spring and fall. It sounds like a lot of maintenance, but it doesn't take that much when you keep a layer of cardboard around the edges weighted down with landscaping blocks, or rocks work. Any grass that pops up in the middle of the garden and hasn't gotten very established doesn't have a widespread root system yet. It's just another weed and you take it out when you do your weeding (which are generally pretty easy to pull from wood chips). Pull them out when you walk by and notice them. It takes a few seconds. Wood chips provide a phenomenal environment for soil biology to thrive and balance everything out.

Ty for this.. everything you have suggested is everything I have done the last 3 yrs.. this is the 3rd year gardening and it’s been better this year.. last year I was ready to throw in the towel 😂 but I kept going.. this year it’s June now and I have done a lot less weeding.. my issue now is morning glories everywhere 😳🤨🤦🏻‍♀️

well clearly youtube just served up this video to a ton of people in the past week. i really enjoy your delivery style. so if you are so inclined i would love to see more videos from you. im eager to watch your garden and soil health grow while working towards getting my hands on some land to work for myself. cheers!

Great tips ! It’s been three months since your last video?!? We need more content from you!

Furniture boxes are heavy and cover a lot of space. Next, you need 8” or more, looks like you only have 1-2”. And we do have Bermuda and canary grass here in WA. I used this method for a 1 acre community garden. Works better every year! Great tips, thanks!

I have helped someone in Florida build a massive self sustaining garden. We build the mulch beds on top of cardboard and build them thick..up to a foot. And then we use edger on beds and rip the running bermuda grass from beds easily

I've been gardening for almost 40 years in Illinois. I've always used wood chips, even before it was called The Back to Eden method. It's nice to know it finally has a name. Lol. Creeper grasses are always a problem. I also dig a trench around my garden which helps keep the grasses out, but I have found a better way to get rid of them in the garden. Offer your friends free produce if they pull weeds a few times a year. You really have to sell this idea. I tell them they get a great workout, fresh air, organic veggies and they can work on their tans... Absolutely free! This method works so well that next season I'm considering charging a membership fee.

Thank you so much Sir

I am in Oregon and we have rhizomous grass. I am battling it daily in my elderberry orchard. I feel your pain.

I hate that you're right! Thanks for the tip - This is going to be a project!

I actually did this blindly layering horse manure and then woodchips over a large area of that creeper grass stuff. I had not even watched the Back to Eden video, but it was all the materials I had. I just needed to smother the creeper grass. I have then covered the whole are(large) with black polythene and will cut small holes and plant through it. Not sure how it will work but I have definitely dealt with the issue of that grass regrowing through the mulch!

Thank you for your video. Here is a note from my own experience...My chickens were in a run covered with Bermuda.... They denuded it and the grass actually hasn't come back in a year!!!! Got to make sure there are enough chickens to land ratio,I guess. We had 12 chickens in a 20x20 foot area.

I"m in PA but I have that creeper grass too. Your #6 tip is awesome. I'll try it. I've been using cardboard and layers of newspaper in an effort to just define areas I don't want to run a mower through. In spring when everything comes to life with gusto the plants just push any barrier straight up! The previous owner of my home planted A LOT of daffodil bulbs. And they have be expanding like crazy. After the daffodils pop up, everything else comes through. Plus, all of that beautiful greenery turns to slime after the spring bulb season ends. It's maddening. I actually dig up and dispose of spring flowers now. I would never have believed I'd do this. There has to be a way to allow these spring flowers to just flow with nature and time, right??? As it is, if I let it go, it becomes a slimy death layer that I'm afraid will kill off anything I want to come back to life again. But, back to your tips, I'll try #6. Thanks!

Thank you!

Love this video.