Low maintenance garden ideas, how to prevent weed ingress from mowing?

Hi guys, I have a small area of yard, up against the house, that I’d love to segregate from the rest of the lawn area so I don’t have to nose my mower in there to mow. I’m thinking of some sort of feature that represents my local environment. I’m thinking lots of river stone (river is major feature of the area and my house is very close), some weathered hardwood logs or driftwood, possible a piece of rusty farm equipment, and some hardy plants scattered through it.

The problem I think I’ll have is weeds will start to grow quickly in the clippings that get blown into it when I mow beside it. I don’t believe in grass catchers etc, I just run around the yard with the mower and leave the mulch where it falls. I run over leaves, branches, anything in front of me, and just chop it up and let it decompose. I can see this proposed garden looking nice for a month or so and then filling up with lawn clippings which will be colonised by weeds.

Maybe the image in my head isn’t realistic, can anyone give me some suggestions for how to construct this garden and the easiest way to maintain it or whether I’m just dreaming and it’s not possible?