Instead of using lucerne hay, compost or cane tops to cover the beds, mulch should consist of hard materials such as gravel, pebbles or blue metal.
With nature neatly surveyed, fenced and buried under bricks and blue metal, the need to assert their ascendancy over the natural world was reduced.
When we played kick-to-kick at school we did it on the gravel, when we played vigorous games at home we did it in a gravel backyard strewn with blue metal to keep the weeds at bay.