I try to pull some every day but they always get away from me. I try to have groundcovers between shrubs and perennials and no bare dirt but the weeds invade my groundcovers and huddle under the good plants that are getting watered.

I have tried to hire kids to weed but it never worked out well. I don't know any old folks who would be willing. I can't afford to hire a pro.

DH has been too busy on weekends to get me a load of mulch too so I'm weeding the same spots over. Frustrating.

I usually do a bit of weeding every day but I have a few areas down by the lower woods that are always wet and or damp. The soil/dirt is compacted and it is impossible to weed so I have been scraping off the first inch of moss, amazing liverwort and tiny weeds and promptly spreading compost over the open dirt ASAP. For the lowest strip I bought a whole bunch of Symphytum 'GoldSmith' hoping it will live up to its reputation and eventually cover the bare ground!!!!

Bamboomary- Don't hold your breath on the S. Goldsmith. It's no where near as vigorous as the plain green stuff which is an amazing weed barrier. I'm using it in dry shade and under fruit trees in my orchard and it's one of the few groundcovers that is stronger than weeds. And it blooms in the spring.

I have a strategy to blanket the ground with groundcovers and eliminate weeds. It's actually working in a few areas (Vinca major under cedars, S. iberis under cedars and apples, and on a bank with Hypericum calycinun and Geranium macrorrhizum) but then there are the very long beds of daylilies, irises, and roses where the grasses went to seed one year and now come up solid. I try to weed early in the season but then must get involved planting vegetables, and after that is over and I get back to weeding the grasses are tall and forming seed heads and possibly seeding again. I cut them off and put the seed heads in trash bags, that's all I can do. I am presently growing some plants from seed, 2 Sanguisorbas (but not the low groundcover one I would like to find) and Desmanthus, a legume that fixes nitrogen, is good fodder (maybe the deer will like it better than my roses) and hopefully will shade out some weeds and occupy space, fertilizing my other plants at the same time. Happy plans but who knows what will happen. Perhaps someday I will discover all the right groundcovers for every situation.

When I weed I spend a lot of time just bagging seedheads so they can't go to seed for next year since so many things don't get stopped while they are small because of the bad weather in spring. I also use serrated knives a lot, I look for them in garage sales. It's amazing, I actually wear all the serrations off after weeding a while. I've never gotten used to a hoe because my weeds are usually snuggled up to my plants and must be removed carefully.

Interesting discussion! I've gotten way behind this spring with weeding and mowing....combination of the rainy weekends, a problem servicing my DR all-terrain mower (you know the routine....just a regular spring oil and filter change turned into major work and ate up a whole weekend when belts had to be replaced, etc.), work intruding into my days off, etc. I'm doing garden triage: what needs attention before it goes toes up or before the weeds go to seed, what can wait, what's too far gone to save (or will have to be dug out and the bed totally redone). Weeded about half my veggie garden (50 x 100) today, decided the snow peas are doing just fine climbing the weeds and don't need any help. If I'm really brave tomorrow I'll tackle my corn. My veggie garden is infested with the dreaded morning glory which is a nightmare. It's been in there for years and fortunately has never escaped into my perennials. Happy weeding....jwww

I'm with you, drtdgr :-) Procrastination is the name of the game! To be honest, it is not so much procrastination is it is a severe lack of free time. Spent all of 45 minutes in my front garden today in between appointments for my side business and was amazed at the rampant lush growth evidenced by the thriving weed population. And the whole thing was more or less weed-free a few weeks ago. I can often spend some dedicated time weeding, but don't have enough follow-up time to go back and mulch to make sure they stay gone for awhile. Mulching is the key!!

The teenage daughter has had no luck nailing a summer job yet (still a bit young for a real job, despite her dreams of making big bucks this summer) so I've made an agreement with her to devote one day a week helping me in the garden in return for a reasonable cash sum. It's amazing what an extra pair of hands can do and she's a decent enough garden worker, specially when money is a motivator. We'll see how it goes :-)

I only have two very very small gardens. I dug everything out when I first moved in to get at the quackgrass. Now, I concentrate on keeping the shotweed from going to seed in the spring, and that takes care of 90% of the weed problem. That's been very successful - 15 minutes here and there in early spring for two years has almost eliminated them. Everything else, I get to it when I can. Both my gardens are raised beds that don't get walked on so the soil is pretty easy to yank stuff from. The oxalis and quack grass of course keep coming back so there's always something to do, but they're not able to take over so long as they get occasional yanking after a thorough digging.

My vegetable garden strategy works well if I get all the groundwork done- first I kill weeds over winter with layers of newspaper. In spring I don't till or dig any more than necessary because I've been convinced that soil is layers each of which has it's adapted microorganisms, earthworms live in burrows that can be disturbed, and soil should be enriched from the top down like in nature. So I only dig a hole to plant transplants to accomodate their root systems and add some fertilizer, and things that are seeded I only dig a 3-4" trench, throw in some lava rock to discourage voles and some compost to help cover the seeds. That way I don't bring buried seeds to the surface. Then after the plants are up good I weed if necessary, lay soaker hoses, and put on a layer of dried grass clippings that effectively ends my weeding for the season and keeps the soil moister. Someone posted here that they grow bed of annuals just so they can kill off all the weeds over winter in much the same way. I'm trying that in my new big bed because I'm sick of all the pernicious stuff in my perennial beds. I'm tempted to dig out all the daylilies and irises (but not the roses) so I can put down newspaper for a while and kill off all the grasses.

I usually do two "marathon" sessions on those freakishly warm days in February or March and catch as many weeds as I can before they set seeds. Between that early weeding and having a garden that is (finally!) rather established, it feels manageable. I find I get most of my weeding done when I don't intend to weed at all- 15 minutes here and there when I'm actually supposed to be on my way to do something unrelated to gardening! Stealth weeding!
Sometimes I target one weed (i.e. that nasty shotweed) and remove them all so I feel like I am ahead of the game even though there are weeds remaining.

Weeding has been the biggest challenge for me this year as well. Normally, I do the fanatical early spring weeding marathon and then spend 3-4 hours every weekend pulling weeds and keeping the gardens neat and clean. Unfortunately, this year DH and I have been installing a flagstone patio and have been spending weekends for the last couple months trying to get that finished by summer. IT'S FINALLY DONE!! Now I can turn my attention to fighting those dreadful weeds, especially, the willowherb, shotweed, and blackberries.

However, I have been trying to, at least, go out there for an hour or two each weekend or in the evening to pull the ones that are starting to flower before they go to seed. I, too, have been trying to establish ground covers on the areas of bare dirt using ajuga, corsican mint, wooly thyme and kinnickinick. I have found, if you keep the ground covers weeded (ha!) while it is getting established, it does a great job in keeping the weeds down in those areas. But, as always, in getting anything established, you have to keep up with the weeding. Now that we are finished with the patio, I am looking forward to spending a couple of full weekends pulling weeds and spreading bark mulch, and hopefully, relax in the garden (a little)!

The weeds in my veggie garden have got so bad this year that I am using a lawn mower to keep them down! I'm cutting the grass between the rows of raspberries and there is a huge area that is too shaded to be useful so that gets cut too. Other than that, I too am using the lasagna/wet newspapers and mulch to keep weeds down. This is my first year trying this and I'm truly pleased with the results. The rest of my gardens are in various stages of weeding. I just think I'm getting it under control and then I walk out another door and find a whole bed that has sprouted all sorts of things when I wasn't looking! It's hard to find enough time to keep it all done and It's hard to find good help. My favorite tool is a short handled tool, sort of like a dutch hoe. It's great.

Since I retired two years ago, I'v been able to spend a bit more time in the garden and try to pluck out weeds whenever I see them. I use bark mulch (now that wood chips seem to be unobtainable here) in all my shurb/flower borders. A mulch keeps the soil from drying out and compacting, so weeds tend to come out easily (most of the time!). In the veggie areas, I also use the newspaper covered with grass clippings between the rows. And I set myself a reasonable weeding task, something that can be done in an hour or so, before moving on to another job. Its much easier on one's back and you can see some improvement.

Luckily I enjoy weeding! I'm retired, so have the luxury of time for it. These days I try to get outside for a couple of hours weeding early in the morning.

We've moved into a new home last summer, so have a ton of work to do. Part of my project is to gradually replace the weeds on the hillside with salal. I clear a small space, plant some salal starters, mulch, repeat. It will probably take me the rest of my life, but at least its progress. And, weeding doesn't cost anything.

My weeding style? "Oh hello, weed...move aside, I'm passing thru". lol Well, it's not really quite like that. I do try to do the major yard clean-up/weeding in Feb. on the years that we get that wonderful false spring...hate it when it fails to materialize!

Other than that, I generally focus on one area at a time. Otherwise, the task is daunting and my back gives out. There is almost always at least 1 area that's truly lacking attention. I've never claimed to be a landscaper, but rather a plant person. I would love to have a well-maintained yard, but I tend to bite off more than I can chew and my yard rarely is totally "together". But then, tomorrow's another day...and another weed!

So what you're saying is "I need some Japanese Grandparents"! My "style" is to wait until I just can't stand the sight of the weeds any longer, then wait for a cooler day and just go for it! Then I vow to never wait so long again!

I bury weeds and grass in newspaper and mulch (wood chips, compost, gravel, even fresh grass clippings... I like to kill grass with itself)... or, if I can scrape the ground first I don't bother with the newspaper. This works pretty well since I don't have a lot of smaller plants and perennials. Also, a lot of my attention goes to pulling weeds just before they go to seed. Somehow they are easier to grab and pull out when they are flowering. And it's true, you get a lot fewer weeds if they aren't allowed to seed themselves. If you pull it up after it has gone to seed you're wasting your time.

I have a weeding schedule. I have sectioned off my yard into different "areas" and I try to get out for 10-15 minute a day to weed the specified area. I teach, so in the summer this is very doable for me. During the school year this amount of time is also doable. Some weeks it takes less time, some weeks a little more.