I used to have a serious weed problem until my uncle (the overgrown farm boy) came to visit. He took me, my husband, a shovel and rake into my garden and we dug the weeds out of the bed. He told me plucking them by hand was leaving too much of the weed's roots behind. He also noticed that a lot of my weeds were coming from the lawn. They were creeping under the cedar edging and spreading into the bed. So he dug up the weeds around the edging and had my husband spread about a 4 inch border of pebbles outside the edging. It was a day's worth of hard work, but I don't have weeds anymore.

Mulch.....tiny little pine bark chips....at least 2 inches thick and replenished yearly.
And a careful application of round-up to the leaf of the weed using a disposable sponge paint brush also works.....but you still have to pile on the mulch.
Linda C

It depends what the weeds are. If they're perennials making a comeback then handweeding is the prudent and long-term answer. (Dandelions, bindweed, dock and similar others.)

If the seedlings are still small and juicy then you might want to use one of those pronged cultivator thingies or something like a mini-hoe or a regular hoe with a small head to pull them free of the soil before you put down either bark mulch, or a thick layer of compost.

If you have a large garden to cope with, do it in sections. Your knees will thank you.

The main thing is to stay on top of the weeding over the next three years at least. If there have been many years of weeds seeding before you dug it over then there will be a large reservoir of seeds waiting to sprout - and they'll bide their time. Some seeds, such as gorse, can wait out the length of a forest rotation (30-40 years) and pop up thickly as soon as a compartment has been logged.

You won't clear the seed burden in one year - and the birds, plus nursery purchases will bring in new material, too.

So long as you clear them before they go to seed, however, you will find the population reducing over time.

Also be aware of the habits of annuals. Poppies, violas, calendulas and others will be seeding when you've no desire to be out weeding (cold and damp weather!) and the seeds will wait over the summer until autumn or spring to sprout for the coming season.

Early or late season 'patrols' round the garden are the best way to catch these outbreaks and bring them under control.

Thanks for the advice, one more question would be how can you tell when the weeds are seeding?

Thanks, Suzy

You will see that they ahve flowered and there will be seds on tham!
I am a huge advocate of not disturbing the soil at all if possible ( as in hoeing) as it exposes weed seeds that ahve been beneath the surface....and then they sprout too.
Linda C

:) weeds seed after they flower... which doesn't help unless you notice when they're flowering and setting seeds. some plants take a week from the blossom falling to the seeds scattering. some plants take three months.

I inherited a garden when I bought my house- it hadn't been cared for in 5 years, I've had it for three, and I'm just now starting to get ahead of the 15 species of weeds that had taken over.

ideally, you can rip them out before they flower. that's the best time.

Linda, I learnt my lesson this year. My weeds were not this bad and I will never take a rake to my garden again. Most of my weeds look like 3 leaf clover.

Thanks again for the advice, Suzy