Russ,
Try the heavier stuff that wholesale nurseries put down....It is tough as nails and can be used over and over. I found regular landscape cloth disintegrates after a while. It comes in assorted widths and you pin it down with big u shaped pins and best of all it keeps the weeds from springing up.
Jan

The best garden cloth I have found is Baycor cloth - have had it down for 4 years now and it is still good. Bermuda grass however can grow through it - but you probably don't have that type of grass where you live. I get the Baycor in 3 foot rolls anything wider and the roll is too heavy to lift. Not cheap but very good. I put bark over the ground cover cloth because it is very hot where I live and the cloth is black and absorbs the heat, but in a milder or damp climate it would be great just plain. I do have problems with weed seeds germinating in the bark over the cloth and since I try to go organic as much as possible, I have to hand weed a pre-emergent should prevent that if you use. I ordered mine from OBC Northwest in Oregon and put it down with the six inch metal staples which I order by the box - those aren't cheap either due to the freight - but it sure has saved me a ton of time in weeding - so I guess time is money saved too. I have even taken up a few beds and saved the cloth and re-used it on other beds.

I got cheaper cloth and it didn't last worth beans - more trouble than it was worth.