Can I do something now so I get less weeds in my flower beds in the spring? Once again the weeds have won and DH insists he is going to rip out thousands of dollars worth of landscaping in early spring and plant grass or ivy instead. I am livid about this and may have already lost the DH battle but wonder if there is hope.

I've tried pulling weeds out by hand but never get all the roots. I've used round-up too but that doesn't always work and I know of people who killed things with it it wasn't supposed to kill. Newspaper under the mulch didn't work either. Help save my flower beds!

When the solution appears, I will be very happy.

We have a wild campanula that is HORRIBLE...very invasive.
I have tried everything short of poisons.
Nothing works. They have roots that go down 8-10 in and if disturbed or broken the roots make jillions more babies.

This is a picture.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/475/
http://www.coldclimategardening.com/...the-evil-twin/

I pull them out before flowering (to keep seeds down) and
pull out leaves (impossible to get all the roots) the rest of the year to starve them out. Nothing works. One year I forked the bed deeply and pulled out many, the next year I had DOUBLE!

So we live with it. Others I see call it "cancer of the garden"...and that is what it can be!
Don't let it go to seed...EVER...you will be very sorry!

we redid ours and used that black tarp paper it isnt the greatest but it did stop a lot of them without using poisons, or killing my back its not 100% but its pretty good stuff

Most weeds are annuals and will die at first frost. I recommend just waiting til Spring and follow a good mechanical and organic weed management program. You can put down weed barrier in your beds but if you put any type of organic top dressing on top of the weed barrier, weeds are still going to grow.

The best prevention is a good weed management program. When the weather starts to warm up in the Spring, put down a pre-emergent. The rule of them is when the Forsythia start to bloom, it's time to put down the pre-emergent.

There are two kinds, granular and liquid. Granular must be water activated and non vegetative specific! In other words, they will kill any green herbaceous plant material (grass included!). It's best to put down the granular type in beds that are flat (no run off when then get wet!) Liquid pre-emergent is best used in other types of beds that don't need water for activation.

During the winter, you can get ahead of the weed problem by pulling up all the big weeds to get rid of the seed heads. Till the soil or let it set and put down a herbicide now if your ground is still warm enough for germination.

Preen has a good line of products for the homeowner. I'd stop by your local nursery and talk to the them. Or check out their website at http://www.preen.com/newpreen/prdpreen/index.jsp

Thanks for your input everyone. Yesterday morning out of desperation I went to a well established local seed company. When the gal behind the counter asked if she could help me with anything I told her my weed plight. She said wait til later this week when it gets above 70 degrees and spray the weeds with Round-up. She also told me to put down a granular weed block now. Granular weed block for fall/winter? Sheesh! Never heard that one before. She said she puts it down three times a year for all year protection.

I had all the stuff sitting in my potting shed already so this morning I put down the weed block. Later this week or early next week I'll either spray all the weeds or pull the big ones and spray the rest.

Thanks Av8rgirl for the Forsythia tip. I never knew when it should go down in the spring. I also didn't know there are liquid pre-emergents. I have Preen granular right now and when I spread it this morning I got it everywhere even on the plants. The package said it was for flower and vegetable beds. Did I just kill my shrubs and perennials? I didn't bother to brush it off plants before watering it in good.

A non-toxic weed-killer: Vinegar.

There is also the gardening cloth (which comes in rolls), which is what I've also used. No weeds have grown under it.

Chemicals.

I believe we should steer away from using chemicals if at all possible. One way to do this is to use some good organic compost, humus, or some generic potting soils in your beds.

This wont get rid of the weeds, but will make the soil loose enough for healthy root growth for your wanted plants, and make it easier to weed out the unwanted ones. You are on the right track by pulling the weeds before they seed. Plus the vinegar method works pretty well as mentioned above.

You can also spread out some clear plastic on your bedding that will cook and kill the weed seeds. The sun will be intensified warming the soil up to temps that plant seeds will either burn, or they will sprout and then burn.

If you can find an earthworm grower in your area, see if you can get some pure earthworm castings. When you use the castings in your beds it will be like using steroids for your plants. They are like tiny little time capsules that retain water, and let oxygen and water get down into the roots. They also keep the soil loose so the roots can spread and grow easily.

When we use these chemicals we kill or drive away the earthworms. They are so important to our gardens. They tunnel around leaving behind little tunnels around the roots letting water and oxygen saturate the roots. Their little poops (castings) are 100% organic, and 4 times better than any fertilizer you can use.

Hopefully you can find a grower in your neck of the woods. If you find some and want to use the castings in your houseplants. Mix 3 parts potting soil with 1 part castings, and repot your houseplants in this mixture. Within 3 weeks you will see more growth from these plants than you probably have seen in years in your houseplants.

They make the weeds grow faster too, but this helps because you can get at them better. Plus they easily pull out roots and all. You will begin to notice that the weeds will be less and less if you stay on it. Soon what now is a chore will be just a few minutes of pulling weeds.

If you cant find a worm grower then buy some worms and put them into a plastic tub with a lid. Keep them in the garage, or a shed, patio, even in your house under the sink if you dont mind having them in the house lol.

Feed them all your veggie food scraps, napkins, coffee grounds, and if you can find some, horse manure. Dont worry about smell because they take the smell out. Every 3 months or so you can harvest out some of the castings to use on your roses, veggies, houseplants, and the castings wont burn the plants like other fertilizers so you dont have to worry about using to much.

After all it is nature, the worms have been breaking down the organic material leaving their little poops for the plants to feed on since time began. What could be better than mother nature

Vinegar is a good weed killer but if used too much it changes the pH of the soil and will also kill the plants that you are trying to grow. As with anything, use in moderation.

Gardening cloth put down will help to control weed growth UNDER it. But, if you put down an organic mulch on top of it as a top dressing, weeds will grow in the mulch. As a landscaper, the only time we recommend a weed barrier cloth is when we use rock type top dressing as it tends to disappear into the soil due to its weight. Otherwise, we recommend pulling the weeds in the beds or using an environmentally friendly type of weed control program.

There are a couple of worm farm vendors in our area. Due to our heavy clay soil, it takes a while to get them established, but they do work.

Thanks for the additional info. Turns out I don't have as much toxic stuff (chemicial) as I thought. The huge roundup container was empty and the granular weed block is half empty. When that is gone I'll be looking for something more earthworm/ pet friendly. I can buy castings locally.

So which vinegar do I use? White or cider? Or doesn't it matter?