Mulch! It keeps weeds down and saves water by keeping the soil from drying out.

I mulched all my new beds right after planting, and it has really seemed to help. The weeds are pretty managable, in those beds. I spend a few minutes a week pulling or spraying them.

The beds I put in last year, and didn't mulch till this spring, are another story!

Haziemoon

I would put down layers of newspaper, in between the plants, then cover the newspapar with mulch!

Jenny P

Mulch. In addition to the reasons mentioned above, a good mulching will help protect your new plants during the cold winter months.

Definitely a layer of newspaper or cardboard to help supress the weeds. Then mulch over that. If you don't plan on growing anything from seed, you can even use Preen to prevent weed seeds from germinating. But I would use that as a last resort.

Tracy

Thanks.

I was going to have her cover her beds with leaves this fall for winter protection, but agree that I'll to mulch first.
I'm not sure how I'll use the newspaper shreds, but maybe in the worst areas--it's a good idea.
This week I got her started on a compost pile of weeds and brown paper, etc in a bare spot (ie., only weeds), so that in spring she'll be able to plant it without weeds being a problem.

So much to do, so little time...

Definitely newspaper and mulch. I use layers of newspaper and then top with mulch.

I find that the one thing that turns off a newbie to gardening is all of the extra work (such as weeding).

With newspaper and mulch you can eliminate a lot of that so that more time is spent enjoying the garden and less working at it.

I don't mulch established shade beds. I find moisture loss less of a problem and the hostas crowd out weeds while letting more air, light and predators at the bare soil to reduce snail and earwig populations.

good suggestions here for mulching. Mulching is almost always a timesaver and good for the soil and/or plants.

I have another suggestion - I use grass clippings from our (very big) lawn to mulch my flower beds. Lots of moisture and nitrogen. The flowers love it! I generally only have to weed and replenish this mulch twice a season (grass clippings break down quickly). I've also used a clippings/leaves combo that works well.

for my hosta/shade bed I've tried many things, but found (like chris) that too much moisture is not so great. So this year I totally redid the whole bed and laid landscape fabric, cutting holes for existing hostas and placing some new plants. After about a month (to let the soil warm up in May) I covered it with wood chips (free from roadside cleanup in our rural area). It looks great and for the first time in years I haven't got a weed bed instead of a shade bed!

I, too, believe in mulch! The only thing to be aware of if you live in a windy area is that I get more problems with wind loss of mulch when I put newspaper or cardboard underneath (unless I keep everything thoroughly WET). I do pretty well with just a thick (at least 4") of mulch.

I rarely use mulch in any of my gardens, use ground covers instead and plants that will spread horizontally, and inter-plant pretty thickly. I don't usually have many problems with weeds, but this year the elm babies are killing me.

I do throw my leaves in the beds in the fall and then rake them out in the spring to the compost pile, after moving last year's compost to whatever bed needs it the most.

This is when you see me going about other chores in a slightly stooped position from raking, shovelling and lifting.

Yes, mulch, mulch, mulch. But you might want to be sure what the weeds are....I tilled, cardboarded and mulched new beds last fall and have had an awful time with bermuda grass this year. It came right through. It goes down a foot or more and is the devil to get rid of. I hope your weeds are annuals. :)