Keeping Ground Bare

[silvercbx]

I have a front yard that is about 440 sq.ft.. For timing considerations, I want to keep it totally bare; no grass, no weeds, no nothing. After rain, heavy or not, in a couple of weeks, it’s covered with low ground-hugging weeds. Not conducive to a weed whacker as it tears up more dirt than weeds; hence a knee bending hand clearing. I do not want to sterilize the ground (salt treatment) but I do need to find something to keep the weeds away. A neighbor told me to cover it with redwood bark stuff to 1"-2" deep; it would keep the sunlight away and, hence, no weeds. Is there anything I can apply to the ground to keep it clear for 6 months or so (chemical or pellets or something)? I’m no gardener by any means so I’m wondering what the experts think about keeping this ground bare (of anything). Thanks, in advance, for any thoughts.

 

[Marck]

I think it sounds terribly bleak and depressing.

However, regardless of what I think, it can more-or-less be done.
I don't recommend plastic weed-cloth for gardens, but as you basically want to have an anti-garden, this should work fine.
First, carpet the ground in a double layer of heavy-duty weed-cloth and then cover that with rounded pea-gravel or similar stone.
You could use bark or woodchips but these will slowly decompose creating organic matter above the weed-cloth that could become a seedbed for weeds. Rounded rock is preferable as you don't want to to puncture the weed-cloth. Don't buy the thin kind, you'll want that thick, fibrous weed-fabric.

This is a 99% solution. Nature abhors a vacuum, and one way or another some weed or another may still poke its way through, but if you pull it up when you see it, your yard should continue to be basically plant-free.

 

[DirtMechanic]

The older folks that recently left us would speak about sweeping their yard. It was more like a japanese rock style garden than I understood as a child.

 

[roadrunner]

It's hard to give a recommendation without knowing your goal(s) in keeping the ground clear. One option would be artificial turf. Nature does abhor a vacuum, as Marck said above. Bare ground invites nature to come in and fill. There are always seeds being blown in and various animals, especially birds transporting seeds.

 

[Chuck]

If you don't mind artistic labor you could easily make a Zen Garden. No weeds and cheap, even possibly free. All that is involved is an imagination and a rake.