If you do the roping as the first border you will loose the effect of the boxes. I would suggest that you do a border of the green the same width of the spacing between the blocks, the do the roping as a final border. Bind it in the green.
To see if you like what I have suggested, line the green, roping and then green up on one side and see how it looks. That's what I usually do to visualize how it will end up.
I was typing while you were posting.
Love the green border then the roping. Do the darker gold as the binding and the grassy(?) fabric as the backing.