Fertilizer is probably not what you need here, yet.
Is this a lawn or a garden?
What is the soil like?

I am seeking some advice regarding what is meant by 'weed free' when it comes to flower beds.
My understanding is that the term weed free doesn't men that there re never weeds in. Flower bed but that those same weeds don't get a chance to take hold and are removed regularly.

I will understand if you can't help but I would love to be able to put an end to this discussion once and for all and there could be no better end than to have an explanation from some real experts.

Kind regards

Alan Millar

Yeja77, hi & welcome to Gardenweb! Are you trying to keep grass out of a flower bed?

Alan, Hi & welcome also. It's best to start a new discussion for a new question. You may also find some helpful reading in the soil forum.

To garden without ever pulling any weeds is not possible without chemicals though it is fairly easy to keep them controlled in an average suburban yard if one will make certain efforts up front to smother if necessary, mulch exposed areas, then a few minutes weekly some times of the year, bi-weekly for other sesasons, (and not at all in winter if nothing is growing,) to patrol and pull. Weeds that get to the point that they make seeds are in a garden that is not being sufficiently tended, IMO, but it is not possible to prevent the wind and/or birds from depositing quite a variety of seeds anywhere. My yard is weed free because I pull them, as soon as one is spotted. A few things that can't be pulled are in the process of being defoliated to death. I didn't plant a mimosa tree IN the fence but I will kill it without chemicals.

You may want to put UK in your zone so people can give you climate-appropriate info, suggestions.

Even with "chemicals" one cannot have a totally "weed" free garden because most of the "weed" suppressing poisons need to be applied to the plant one considers a "weed". A gardener can have a relatively "weed" free yard and garden with just a little bit of work by proper use of mulches and by mechanically removing that unwanted plant growth.
Keep in mind that vinegar (Acetic Acid) is a chemical.

Alan, are you just interested in the semantics? To me 'weed free' would mean there are no visible weeds at the point in time you are looking at the bed. There might be the week after or there might have been the week before. It is impossible to have a permanently weed free flower bed, or, in our climate to even have a permanently weed free stretch of concrete, without constant human intervention.

But what is the point of this exercise?

How are you going to kill that mimosa tree, purpleinopp?
kay

Hey, organic kitten, glad you asked. For the past 3 summers, I've been killing it. The first year I wasn't very dedicated but the past 2 summers I've been almost daily removing all of the foliage, with kind of a rubbing motion. Sometimes I hack/jab at it with a shovel just to show it I mean business. It's too soon to tell if it's still alive this year, but I've been checking, don't see anything yet. From its' weakness in growing new foliage toward the end this past fall, I'm certain it will reach its' demise this year, if it's not already dead.

Not a plan for people who don't walk around in their yard ever day, but it does work if you're "on it." I've killed other woody entities this way. Going to have to get more serious with the Nandina this year. Haven't won that one yet... I can't dig that one because it's where natural gas pipes are.

You can see why I can't dig the Mimosa in the pic below. It's IN the fence. This is the most recent pic of that area, end of Oct. The stump is as covered with dirt as I can get it without making a big pile there. Nothing is planted very close to it because I have to step in there constantly, and bits of it come up from the ground sometimes.