Yes, Bermuda grass is a nightmare... "Round Up" works on it but as John has observed it takes several applications... Sometimes as much as four with three week intervals... The main problem with the stuff is that it has a very extensive root system so killing it in a bed probably isn't actuall killing the sumabich but just keepin' it outta the bed...
Okay, SRS, yeah.... I put down 3 or 4 individual sheets of neespaper first... Then the landscape cloth... It's okay to use 16 penny nails to hold everything down... If your bed is prepared (tilled) then you can push them down with your hand... This really makes the rest of the job easier because you don't have wind messing with your landscape cloth... Then what we do is put down about 3 to 4 inches of double shredded mulch ann 3-4 inches of the pine needles...
Tell you what... You do that an yer bed will stay weed free and yer plants will thrive like nuthin' you ever seen... All we do is put an couple inches of the pine needles on each bed each year and all is well... We even leave the leaves that find their way into the bed each winter... More organic material...
Speakin' of organic...
We don't have major problems with bugs in our gardens because the ecology is in balance... Even in our veggie garden... That is important...
Ecomlogical balence is the best way to grow anything... Yes, it does start at the bottom of the food chain which means creating environment for bugs and worms... Then an environment for birds, frogs and toads... If you can do this then you are better than half way toward never having to resort to anything else to control damage...
We are lucky enough to have a pond and frogs... The litttle tree frogs camp out in the veggie garden... With the straw mulch it satys moisty so they just move in and stay there all summer... They are such fun... I mean, I'm picking beans doan a long row and it seems that evry minute or so I see one of those little guys sitting on a leaf... Don't get any better than that... Okay, maybe sex, but those little frogs takes care of the garden and eat just about anything that can grow up and become a pest, like potato bugs and horn worms and all them critters...
So, my advice is if you have a veggie garden make it bird and frog/toad friendly and you won't ven have to worry about bugs... Well, okay, Japanse Beetels are pesky and we just carry a jar with a lid filled half way with water and just pick them off stuff and drop them in the jar... But no chemicals...
Well, that's about all I can do for now... These is some powerful drugs they have me on... I can talk gardening but prolly stay away from the political threads fir a while..,.