Uh oh, I'm planning on deep mulching my berry patch with straw, but your bermuda grass invasion makes me wonder if I should lay plastic weed barrier along just the edges as a kind of barricade.
Your cutworm observation made me giggle, just because the wording was funny :) Maybe you need some chickens! Ours did stuff like pick potato beetles off the tater plants, and surprisingly, they left most of the produce alone.
I have chickens but they would have way too much fun digging up the mulch and my plants lol. I let them out in the evening to freerange but have to keep an eye on them so they don't get in the garden. Later in the year when the plants are bigger they might help. I heard that putting down a layer of cardboard under the mulch will help keep the grass down too, but its too late for that.
My danged chickens decided to do some mulch digging today!!! With a whole garden and lawn area to explore, they were determined to get at the sawdust and straw I was putting on the berry patch. Freaking dingbats. With your experience in mind I changed my mind from just straw to layering straw over weed barrier and heavy paper bags :)