We're thinking of paving the area under our second-story deck but aren't budgeting for it until next year at the earliest. The area, which is roughly 30 feet by 10 feet, has black lava rock partially covering it right now - because of price and general lack of availability where I live, I've been slowly moving it to the front of the house where the lava rock there was thinning out.
I'm tempted to remove the rest of the rocks under the deck, smooth out the dirt, and cover it up with landscaping fabric to make it easier to deal with weeds in that space in this coming summer. Because we may pave over this next year, I don't want to deal with the expense and hassle of putting a bunch of mulch down on top of this area. Would it be a bad idea to leave the fabric exposed like that, knowing that it's out of the way of foot traffic and otherwise isn't being used for plants? I've seen all sorts of mixed reviews on using landscape fabric, though. Is there a cheaper way to temporarily deal with this, perhaps leaving things as they are for now and occasionally using a weed control spray?
Here's a photo of the area I'm dealing with: