My garden, what should I put on top of the weed supressing fabric?

[Stephen]

When I moved into my present house 16 years ago, I thoroughly remodelled the garden (pocket handkerchief sized). I laid out borders and dug soil out from the middle to pile up in the borders, raising them by 12-18".
In the midfle I laid weed supressing fabric (the bonded fabric type) and covered this with wood chips.

Obviously, now the wood chips have broken down and the fabric has holes and tears in it.

I have cleaned everything up and have some heavier duty, woven nylon fabric.

What do you recommend as a covering for this and why?
I'm not averse to using chips again. They do retain damp, which makes the garden feel drear for a long time.
It would seem odd to import stones into a garden where I am always pulling stones out of the soil.
I'm not really keen on paving, it seems to be so not-a-garden.

I am prepared to be convinced one way or another.

[oldherbaceous]

If you were happy with the look of the wood chips before, Stephen, I think I would use them again.....and if you use the better quality fabric, it will last a lot longer this time.....

[Primrose]

I''d also go for something similar. In very hot weather (as it last year's prolonged heatwave) a paved or concrete covering will reflect a vast amount of unwanted heat into the house

I suppose if you wanted something which looked less dreary you could perhaps try a camomile lawn which wouldn't need mowing but would obviously need importing more soil for the roots.

The trouble with any kind of shingle or various types of stones is that over time they become covered with algae and lose their nice fresh look and then it,s a problem to clean them up. We experience this with the pebbles covering the circular plastic base of our large pebble water fountain feature. After a couple of years they become quite grimy and we have to remove them and soak them in large trugs of bleached water to try and clean them up.

I imagine you probaby don't want artificial Astro turf ?

[Geoff]

Be brave, go for coloured glass pebbles!

[Stephen]

Thank you all.
OH - yes, I was happy in many ways. I did wonder if the chips harboured pests (or possibly benevolent beasts).
Primrose - Quite right, the thought of slabs or concrete doesn't appeal. I might just accept blocks, as they drain between the bricks.
While one can remove and wash pebbles from a pot, I can not gather up those from a 20x10ft space!
And you are quite right I don't fancy astroturf (but could be persuaded) but I am told one needs to wash it with a pressure hose from time to time. A neighbour has it in his front garden (about 10 ft of space).
Geoff - you have uncovered my inner flamboyance! For coloured glass pebbles to look really good, I would need a mirrored, or at least reflective, surface under them.