Hi stone- it certainly is a LOT of work to be putting the fabric down! As a 54 yr old woman though, I'm using it as a way to get a workout on the lower bod 😁.
I initially have killed off the weeds by covering them in cardboard for like 3 mos and am now in process of putting down the w.b. fabric with the tanbark on top... thanks about the carpet idea! That should certainly work too! Re the eco-friendly herbicides, I just Googled that and a bunch of stuff came up. Now I'll look into the basic science of it and read reviews in the case of store-bought products. Thanks!!