Many gardeners place landscape fabric under gravel.
Black plastic available in rolls, is especially helpful in the vegetable garden. Besides effectively preventing weed growth, it warms the soil early in the season, speeding the growth of heat-loving plants like melons. Place the plastic over the soil, then cut slits in it where you want to plant seeds or transplants. Remove the plastic at the end of the growing season, since by this time it will usually have degraded too much to use again. Unroll fabric, then use scissors or a knife to cut X-shaped slits for plants.