@Wildwood your garden is BEAUTIFUL! I would so watch a YouTube or instagram you did! Heck I'm as Southern as it gets so wouldn't bother me a bit. I used to love gardening barefoot, then the fire ants moved in. I hate those little (insert cuss word)!
We tried some black plastic one year to keep weeds down and I found that those hateful things loved being under it. Then when I walked on it they swarmed. Do they not like this fabric?
We are trying to switch over to mainly raised beds but still have an area dh has to plow up. I'd love to have mine look as good as yours!
I do have two of those rubbermaid stock tanks I'm going to pull over this year and use. I've heard I need to paint them white first so they won't hold heat.