Several of my clients lately have been requesting that the strip between the curb and the sidewalk in front of their homes (aka "No Man's Land" or "The Strip from Hell") be addressed. They don't want plants because there's no irrigation and they want their guests to be able to park on the street and get our of their cars without stepping on plants. I've dug out the grass, taken the soil below grade, layed down landscape fabric and added a good layer of 1 1/2" river rock. It looked great, and then when i went back a couple of weeks later, i was amazed at the amount of weeds (mostly nutgrass) that have sprung up. this can be a real maintenance nightmare--any of you have any experience with this? Anything else i could've done?

thanks!

I don't know about Texas weeds but the size of your rocks might be a bit big. The larger the rocks, the less compact and the more light that gets through. Also, some weeds are almost inevitable and weeding through large size rocks can be a pain. I find smaller rocks easier to rake away and then just respread over the area.

The best weed barrier here is a barrier of some type (cloth, roofing paper, etc.) and then 3 inches of shredded bark...preferably cedar. If rock is desired for a visual effect then 2 inches of 1/2 inch round river rock (not crushed) topped off (if desired) by another round rock. Crushed or angular rock is harder to weed unless it's quite small like some fine crushed shales.