Use the lasagne method. Put cut up boxes on top of the bed. Cover these boxes with compost and mulch. This will kill anything under there...eventually. You can let this "cook" for 6 months, or you can cut through the cardboard to plant as soon as you are sure any chance of a freeze is past. Tell me what part of TX you are in and I will help you figure out the average last freeze.
The pebbles are not going to hurt anything. They are just a pain to us. Carry a bucket or pot around as you work and toss the pebbles in the bucket. Don't make yourself crazy trying to get them all at once.
Compost is to feed your plants and loosen up the soil.

Here is a link that might be useful: what is compost

Puppylove - Good advice above on the lasagne gardening. I've done many new beds like that with success. Just be sure to layer the newspaper about 15 pages thick and overlay the edges so weeds and grass won't grow through them. If you leave a thin area, grass will break through. As far as plant selection, visit the site below. The plants here are good for most of Texas.

Here is a link that might be useful: Texas Smartscape

natvtxn__ i am in houston..... so your saying i can cut holes in the cardboard or newspaper to plant my flowers right in the paper? and i leave it like that?

natvtxn--- also with the lasagna method, do i keep doing the layers over and over again or just the one time?

Sounds like you want to get this going now and not wait 6 months to me. Lasagna is awesome...did it for several areas taken over by mock strawberry.. But if you want to get this done now fast, I would go to home depot/lowes etc.Get you a roll or too of weed cloth. It is sort of a webby cotton black material. Roll it down over all your beds. Buy bags and bags of Rose soil and some compost. Mix that up toss it on the weed cloth at least a few inches deep. and there you go...brand new bed. The weeds under the dark cloth will be DOA in a month.

Pup, you just do the layering one time for each bed. Actually I use roofing felt. It will decay/rot and feed the soil under it. You cut through it and plant. You can do it the day you put the compost and mulch down. Eventually you will have beautiful earth worms in your soil. BTW if you later come across a huge grub, don't worry these eat the mulch and turn it into good soil.

We started a bed in the front yard. The plan is to have a small circle of grass in th center.

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The dark soil out by the walk is 15 (2 cubic feet) bags of flower and veg soil.
The redish mulch is finely mulched leaves. A firend's brother brings us about 15 bags every Friday.
You can see carpet grass under the leaves. That grass is what is under the felt roofing paper. As you can see, at $3.97 a bag, it could get pricey to purchase a lot of bags of soil. My plan is to plant out by the walk and drive and let the rest cook under the mulch for a few months.

natvtxn---- thanks for the elaboration! thats exactly what i needed! and ps...i love your dog!! LOL

You are certainly welcome.
Since you are new here, you don't know that my best friend and I share my house. We are both widows and it helps us financially and for moral support. We have a total of 4 dogs. Snickers, a cocker, BeBe a toy poodle, Fancy, a sheltie and that is Diane's Cody in the pic. He thinks he is Godzilla.

Kathy

Thank you, Natvtxn, for the great demo pictures! I have used this method for 13 years, starting in Houston and it works great----esp in Houston, as it is the best way to start a raised bed, adding material on top. This is most likely why pea gravel was incorporated in the existing bed since it adds bulk and helps with drainage. New raised beds have a definite tendency to flatten over time and in Houston with its pounding rains, 16-24" initial bed height is the norm to strive for. I had never thought to use roofing felt---great idea and neat. The black will help to "sanitize" the soil but might work better without mulch over it although it can get tiring to see one's pretty yard covered that way for 3 to 6 months or so. A sanitized bed is a wonderful way to start a garden and almost any plant will do well in it. Of course it only stays that way for a season and then you have to weed and mulch 2x a year. What I did was use newspaper to cover the grass, then added the extra "soil" (a mix of pine bark, contractor's sand, compost, manure, leaves, top soil, gravel etc). and then covered it all with black plastic pegged down. I let it "cook" for 5 months. Any method you decide to use, to speed up the death/decomposition of the underlying grass and without draining that soil of nutrients, is to put down a heavy layer of cheapo 13-13-13 all-purpose fertilizer and lightly wetting it in before placing the barrier material down. Most of this fertilizer will be gone in a very short time.

Hi guys: Is the roofing felt paper method safe for use in a vegetable garden? I made my raised garden about two years ago when my baby was one, and didn't take into account that I was going to be very busy...So it got overtaken by weeds. I originaly used newspaper which didn't really work after just a short while, and I'm doing this on a budget so I had not considered the weed block, but if the felt paper is safe it is very economical. Let me know what you know about it. P.S. Great pics. you are so kind and helpful.

I really don't know about using it in an edible garden. For a veg garden use light weight cardboard boxes. They degrade a bit faster than heavier cardboard. By light weight, I mean the weight of cereal boxes, soda 12 packs etc. Since they are small, you will have to do a lot of overlapping. Another thought is to go to Sam's or Costco and by a full roll of the cheapest butcher paper you can buy. That you could roll out in a straight line or crisscross and overlap it as needed.
It is pretty strong. I have used it for one use banners.
But what ever you use, you will need to cover it with some sort of mulch. The mulch serves two fold, it holds the paper down and keeps the soil moist. Check with whom ever handles you brush pick up. Many cities now provide ground up trees and brush for free. This would be a very good time what with all the Christmas trees they just picked up.
Water it ever so often to encourage the paper and mulch to rot

or......pull or hoe out the biggest weeds, cover the bed with 13-13-13, wet it down, cover all with black plastic garbage bags held down with u-pins made from metal coat hangers. Let it sit for a few months or as long as you can to let the Texas sun heat it up. Remove the plastic and plant. This will help keep those weeds down for a year if you place your plants close together. Wind, ants, compost, etc. will eventually bring some weeds back, esp. wild grass.

awesome advice! i have so many options. thanks so much everybody... your all so wonderful!

Thanks, I will do a combination of all the advice...I will cover a large section with the black plastic over fertilizer to prep. for next fall planting, and carve out a small section with the paper for maybe some brocoli now, my little girl loves it and harvests it herself. The though of weeding the entire thing is what had kept me from planting anything this year, this way I will only tackle what I need now. Thanks again!