You'll have to look long and hard to find many gardeners or even landscape professionals that readily advocate the use of weed block/landscape fabric. It just doesn't work well for the purpose intended and once in place, generally results in more problems than it solves, as your experience is indicating.

It may be a lot of work, but you do need to remove the landscape fabric. Then you can much more easily address weed removal. And there are a number of herbicides available that will target only grasses and will not harm other plants.

Going forward, you may want to consider removing any lawn/sod before preparing a new planting area. You have a few choices in methods - manual removal (works fine for smaller areas), a sodcutter for larger areas (hire it done) or causing the lawn to decompose by covering with a layer of wetted newspapers topped with a thick layer of mulch. The newspaper/mulch layer will smother the lawn over time and the newspaper itself will decompose, leaving a pretty much weed- and grass-free plantable area.

I was thinking I should probably take out the landscape fabric. Probably easiest to do now, before hostas, etc are very large. Then I assume I should move or kill any invasive grass and re-establish a border, put down some Preen to prevent future weeds and cover with a thick layer of mulch. Does this seems correct?

So for my future beds, I should place thick layers of newspaper, spray with the hose and then cover with a thick layer of mulch. Then do I wait for the lawn to die, remove the mulch and then plant my flowers, etc? How long do I wait?

Cindy, it's a learning process. But think of it this way. You need to give your plants a good foundation on which to grow. That means getting the soil in great condition for them...fertile, loose, well-drained, and as free of stones and weeds as possible. Preparing your beds is the biggest, dirtiest job of making a beautiful garden or landscape. And cutting corners doesn't work. But, it pays off in the long run, with healthy vigorous plants.

To create a new bed where once was only grass, I use one of two methods. The best method is to remove all the grass...shake off as much of the soil as you can and compost the grass itself. Then test your soil. This is easily done. Go to your local gardening center and ask for a kit that typically is sent off to a local lab for analysis. What does it need? Add those things in. Is it too sandy? Too clay-y? Too acidic? Is it depleted of the nitrogen, calcium, phosphorous? potassium? Make your additions by adding good compost, blood meal, peat, what ever it is YOUR soil needs. I dig up the soil first, pick out the most obvious stone, let it sit for a few days to allow new weeds to germinate, then dig it in again while adding the soil amendments at the same time (You can use a tiller if you are doing a larger area).

NOW your bed is ready for plants. Dig their holes twice as wide as the plant, water them in well, mulch around (but not right up to the crown of the plant) and watch those plants just explode.

Using the newspaper version works well too but the bed won't be ready for planting till next year.

Be sure to test your soil and make amendments (at the very least it is always a good idea to add in lots of good old fashioned compost) before planting which ever method you use.

If you use the newspaper method, covering the lawn areas in fall will provide a very plantable area in spring. If done at other times, weather and temperature are determining factors, but typically 4-6 months is sufficient. And you do not need to remove the mulch before planting - just work it into the soil. My mulch of choice is a high quality compost. When used on existing beds, it continues to improve soil structure and tilth and replaces nutrients so that supplemental fertilizing is seldom needed. And it very handily accomplishes other mulchly duties like weed suppression and moisture retention and producing a "finished" look.