Yes it will work, however you might have to give 2-3 applications of the RoundUp for those persistent weeds. The fabric will be ok if you are planning on making raised beds later down the road, but I sure wouldn't use the stuff if you're going to permantely plant plants in. You'll have nothing but a big tangled mess.

Julie.....Any idea what kind of weeds you have? Have you identified them?

Well not sure what you have planted in the beds....but I would first try to dig the weeds out by the roots....this might mean that you have to lift any other plants that are there too....but this might be a good time also to split perennials.

Unfortunately I have not had any success with landscape fabric killing weeds or grass under it....they just seem to pop up through it. Maybe others have had better experiences.

I have found the best way for us to keep weeds in check in the garden is to do a major weeding in spring after the perennials have popped up and I know what they are...then after that just pull them when you see them during the garden crawl everyday....this way its not a major job.

Oh and no need to hide in the house...proudly present your garden o'weeds as proudly as you do your flowers. I've done that too...haha.

Happy Gardening!
Sierra

Well the one I *think* is creeping bellflower and it is horrid. Everytime I dig up the roots they regrow. Any littel peice makes a new plant. It is evil in my opinion, lol.

The other one I am not sure what it is....its low lying, has gone right into my lawn has tiny purple flowers and looks almost like a clover. Any thoughts? Some kind of ground cover I think.

Ugh.

Julie

Julie,

Do you have room in a garden at your place or at a friend's place? Or do you have lots of extra pots? This spring, why not...

1. Dig out all the perennials you want to keep in the flowerbed and replant into the temporary home in your garden or at a friend's garden or into pots. Wash off the roots, if you think that there will be little roots of the weeds in the roots of the perennials... or seeds from the weeds. You do not want to infest your friend's garden.

2. Spray roundup on the whole bed killing everything you do not want, weeds and unwanted perennials, using a garden hose on the ground to make the bed the right shape.

3. Once the weeds and grass are all killed, either place deep lawn edging down to edge your new bed or dig the deep trench around the bed.

4. Amend the soil in the flowerbed the way you would like it to be.

5. Replant your perennials.

6. Landscape fabric it and/or mulch it if you want to.

I had to do this in an area where there the historical downfacing tiger lilies, chinese lanterns and grass had run loose. I, though, literally had to sift all the soil because of the lilies' little black bulbits that were in the soil. I transplanted what I wanted to the garden and put roundup on all the bed. Enlarged it and lawn edged it. Amended the soil and then planted the perennials I wanted into the bed. I placed a statue in the center of the bed and the whole thing looks great.

It really doesn't take that much time. And it is worth it!

Weeds...I have a sign that I made that says "garden of weedin'". One year we had a wedding here on the acreage and there was an area that I just did not get to. I placed the sign in the center of the patch. The weeds didn't bother me then. I actually had people comment on the sign, rather than the weeds. Everyone has weeds. Remember, people coming to your place are coming to see you and if they comment on a weed, tell them that they can feel free to pull it out if they wish to.

Julie, Valleyrimgirl's advice is pretty much what I had to do in some of my flower beds. It will work but you might have to watch really closely for regrowth of the odd weed after and paint roundup on it. Those creeping blue bellflowers truly are horrid - my yard was free of them until last summer I found some creeping through my hedge from the neighbour's untended flowerbed. Then I noticed one in my daylily bed, 20' away! I nearly screamed. I think I got them under control now anyway.

BTW the other thing you've got is Creeping Charlie otherwise known as Ground Ivy. Smells kinda weird/minty. I think it's sort of nice in its way but not in my yard!!

BTW Julie not to be creepy but if you are short of perennials and need some filler I work in Selkirk... let me know. Oh yeah and I'm female.

There was no creeping charlie in our yard when we moved here. Then...we received a load of dirt...voila! creeping charlie. So far it is only in the grass by the one side of the house. It has not been in the gardens or in any of the flower beds. (crossed fingers) What an awful weed it is!

I tend not to like to use a lot of chemicals, so what i would do is make a lasagne bed right on top of the current bed. If you do have perennials in there, take them out, as everyone says, and follow their advice for washing the roots. Lay cardboard right over the current bed, probably going over the edges of it in order to make sure everything is covered. Then make your layers on top of the cardboard - leftover fall leaves if you have them, straw, shredded newspapers, coffee grounds (see if you can get a couple of buckets from a nearby Tim's), etc. Wet down each layer as you go. Add a layer of soil and then repeat the layers if you have enough material. Then put a good thick layer of soil and compost on top of that and let it sit for awhile before you plant anything back into it. If you want to stretch some black plastic over the bed for a couple of weeks, that would probably help "cook" the layers and break them down faster - i've never tried that, but i think it could be done. It would also help kill any stray weed seeds. The bed will be quite "mounded" for awhile but if you do it in the spring, it will settle quite a bit before fall.

I plan on doing this to one bed at the school. It's impossible to keep the grass out of it, so the kids are going to get a lesson in lasagne gardening!

I was going to suggest a lasagna bed, also. Last year, I put about 4 layers of newspaper and then about 3" of compost down in my asparagus bed. Just a surface lasagna bed, but it worked very well. I didn't see a weed all year and it looked awesome. And this year, I'm pretty sure all of the newspaper will be gone and I will do it again. It is a wonderful way to keep the weeds at bay. IF any weeds appear, their roots are so shallow that they are very easy to pull - thistle, dandelion, etc.

Shauna

I've always wanted to try something like that in our veggie bed too, Shauna, but dh likes to till through the rows every so often in the summer, so i can't. But i'm going to plant asparagus in the raised bed (framed in) that he made a couple of years ago, so i might try it in there. I wish we had a municipal source of compost, though - i can never make enough!

Three inches of compost - SOB - I only dream of that much compost! LOL you lucky girl Shauna. Lasagne-ing is great if you have the materials to do it with... otherwise you end up with a newspaper mess all over the neighbourhood. I didn't admit to you guys what happened to me last year - it was too embarassing :o

I have vague and unfounded reservations what might happen to blue bellflower (campanula satanicus) in a lasagne bed. I fear it might survive. I guess if some did survive then you could paint on the Roundup... So has anyone got rid of blue bellflower this way? I am interested to know.

Fortunately, i haven't had to deal with this!

Gillian, cardboard doesn't blow around so much! :) And if you wet everything down as you go, it helps keep it in place. You might have to do things bit by bit when you're putting on a newspaper layer.

Sometimes when i don't have a lot of extra soil lying around, i'll do a "deep-dish" lasagne bed by digging down six or eight inches and starting the layers down there. And it's easier then to use newspaper as your first layer because it's more flexible than cardboard. I anchor the edges of the newspaper with rocks (i try to have a flap over the edge of the bed). Anyway, i know digging is not what you're supposed to do for a lasagne bed, but then i have the soil i've dug out (sifted for weeds, too - my lawn is all weeds)

I've actually been thinking about doing our entire veggie garden with the same method. DH hand digs it really well in the spring and then I am left to my own devices with it after that.

The compost is $2/bag and is one of those large, clear leaf bags. I can only manage about 6 in my station wagon but I'm trying to think of someone that has a half-ton, that they don't mind getting a bit dirty, to haul some for me. It's funny stuff, tho, but it works great. It seems to be "oily" - my hands are just black after I'm finished and it doesn't wash off easily. And you get the occasional bit of green garbage bag in it. But it seems to be great for the garden. Edmonton has a huge waste management facility and it is renown throughout the world. Many local people don't know, tho, that it is a source for great compost. I just wish they would have a delivery service of some sort. I would gladly pay to get a dump truck full hauled to my house.

Shauna