How to Stop Grass from Growing Under Fence

So if you have a great lawn design that you have executed perfectly. From the rocks to the water streams, everything in your lawn is perfectly placed. But, one day you come out with your cup of coffee and see grass growing under your fence? What now?

Well, there are several ways you can go about this. Most US homeowners experience grass and weed growth around and under their fences. And everyone deals with it their own way. 

The easiest way to deal with fence undergrowth is by cutting a low trench around the borders and spraying herbicide into it. There are other solutions too. Let’s take a look at some of them, shall we?

Ways to Stop Grass from Growing Under Fence

Okay then, the overgrowth around the fence is completely ruining your lawn design. It is an eyesore in your picture-perfect lawn. It’s time to take care of that. Let’s see some way how you can tackle it yourself –

Cut A Trench

This is the easiest, most frequent and sustainable way of getting rid of grass undergrowth from your fence lining. It is what most people will do when they think about fence grass. The idea is to dig up a trench to create a physical divide in height between the fence and the rest of the lawn. 

If you are regularly trimming and mowing and still see grass under your fence, it is probably your neighbour’s grass overgrowth. Ask them before cutting the trench in case there’s a plant or flower beds in the way that they would like to preserve. 

And with that out of the way, let’s get to work.

Things you will need:

• Water Hose
• Trenching Shovel
• Gardening Hoe

Water the soil for one or two hours the day before you are going to cut your trench. Moist soil is much easier to dig up, than hardened ground. Mark the dimensions of your trench and get digging.

To excavate easily, use a trenching shovel. Jam your shovel in the ground and push diagonally upwards. Once you have excavated the whole marked area, take a gardening hoe or sharp garden spade and clear out the trench.

Some people stop here. You can fill up the trench with gravel and call it day. With the trench in place, grass is much less likely to take over. But as an added step, you can put a grass repellent in the trench as well.

Landscaping Fabric

Landscaping fabric is a great way to stop weeds from growing. You can cut a long strip of any non-woven landscaping fabric and lay it down in the trench. And cover it with a layer of mulch and gravel. This way the chances of having weed overgrowth is minimal.

You could also use pre-emergent on top of the mulch to keep everything secure.

Herbicide

This is a pretty standard route to take. Many people will dig up the trench, spray herbicide, and fill it up with gravel and mulch. But herbicide can wash off. It is not as durable and long lasting as a landscape fabric. 

But, landscaping fabric can be tricky to remove, whereas herbicide is a temporary solution. So, in case you have plans of changing the layout of your lawn, or redesign the fencing, herbicide might be a better option for you.

Build A Barrier

This is a much better looking solution. A brick barrier will look very well-done and give off a finished look. It makes your whole lawn look much nicer and well thought out.

Things You Will Need:

• Bricks
• Shovel
• Tape Measure
• Wooden Stakes
• String
• Level
• Rubber Mallet

Put down wooden stakes along your fence. Tie a long line of strings with the stakes, make sure the string is facing towards the fence. Congratulations, you have now created a guide for your whole project. We are going to follow this line of string as our measurement guide from here on out.

Now, put your shovel to use. Measure the height of your brick and the gap underneath your fence. 

Say, for example, there’s a 4-inch gap between your fence and the ground. And, the height of your brick is around 3.55 inches. Now, depending on how much of a gap you want to have on the finished barrier, you have to dig the depth of your trench.

Ideally, leaving a two inch gap between the brick barrier and the fence is a standard touch. Now, dig up the soil with your shovel and level all the dirt.

You can use new bricks to add a polished look or you can use old salvaged bricks to give it a more rustic look. Old salvaged bricks are dirt cheap. People give away bricks all the time. Keep an eye out on your local facebook group to see if you can find some.

Lay down your bricks flush against each other. If you have bricks of different colors, you can alternate between lighter and darker shades to make a pattern.

Take your rubber mallet and push everything together. You might think you can compress everything altogether at the end. But, that is a disastrous idea. Your barrier will end up wonky and misshapen that way.

Keep using your mallet to compress the bricks after laying two- three bricks every time. You should also keep checking the level of the bricks as you go. It will be very frustrating to level all the bricks at once.

Once you are done, broom away any excess dirt from your brick barrier. You now have an old-timey, vintage looking brick border beneath your fence. Congratulations!

Final Verdict

If you have read this far, thank you so much for coming along. Lawn care is something that always gives us joy, and there is no better feeling than knowing your lawn is going to look picture perfect even if a project takes some time and work.

This weekend put on your gardening gear and get to building your perfect fence barrier. Any of the techniques provided in this article will work just fine, pick one that suits your skills. Good Luck!

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