Before I found this method I put down what was described as heavy duty weed membrane in my fruit patch. My main problems were with Dandilion and thistle. The Dandilion came up round it but did subesquently die down, the thistle came straight up through it and to make matters worse as the bark on top decomposed couch grass moved in. Last winter I removed the membrane and on most of the remaining paths put down a thick layer of card with wood chip on top, this is much easier to hoe and has done at least as good a job as the membrane in suppressing weeds. My only slight downfall was the chipings were free and had been sitting around a while so bought some of their own weed seed!