Removing weeds in beach pebbles

[emcas]

Hey folks! I have a small raised bed area in my yard that's fenced in to thwart creatures from entry; after one season, I put down weed barrier fabric and installed pea gravel around the beds as the grass would get annoyingly tall within the fenced area. It was great for about .... 6 months.

It's been about 2 years now and the weeds are very much back and clover has taken over; the gravel has ton of dirt mixed in from leaves and whatever falling on the stones and breaking down over time. (My yard has a few weedy areas that I let be wild - I chose my battles and accepted these areas were not being easily wrangled. Unfortunately, things have wound up spreading though).

Long story, long .... how do I try to clean this back up? No weed killers seem to work and I don't want to use toxic chemicals near my beds anyway (or, at all really). Industrial vinegar hasn't helped. I feel stuck bc there's so much organic matter mixed into the pebbles so weeds are just going to keep growing unless I somehow beat them back.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm considering moving the rocks into various piles to blow out the dirt with a leaf blower. Then reinstall some new rocks on top. I just feel like this is an endless losing battle.

 

[Bamboozled]

Oh how I can relate to your situation! Here's what I did on the side of my place: Cleared the area, laid down two layers of 10 mil plastic and covered with pea gravel and pavers.

Two layers may be overkill as 10 mil is pretty thick, but the area isn't that big so I figured why not. Small weeds still pop up on occasion but they're easily yanked out.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084WVCXMN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

 

[Tetters]

When those weeds pop through, we just have to keep pulling them out - as often as possible, at least once a week, and definitely before they set seed. Using a flat hoe is possible, but caution is needed.

 

[emcas]

thanks to you both ..... I do pull weeds a ton, I just hadn't and the tiniest clover went nuts. it's insidious and annoying as all heck to pull. i may move the rocks section by section to add plastic and replace them after. oof. past self made mistakes.