Your garden will get better and better with time. You not only have weed seeds in the soil, but also they come in with birds, wind, and evil garden gnomes! Mulch heavily (4-6"), preferably with something you can till in later (straw, hay, dried grass clippings, leaves). The weeds that do poke up through the mulch will be easier to pull, and each year you'll have better soil and fewer weeds.
I notice that there is a wooded area behind your fence. Could you collect leaves from that area? Newspapers work also--just put some dirt on top of them or you'll be spreading the news all over! Cardboard also will work, if weighted down.
Don't despair--God made weeds, but gardeners haven't yet figured out why.

Mulch, mulch and more mulch. Thick layers of straw or hay or leaf mold or compost or grass clippings or a mixture of all with cardboard underneath it in the paths. Not only controls weeds but improves the soil 10 fold in the process while stabilizing soil moisture levels.

Naked dirt should never be allowed in the garden. :)

Dave

raised gardens are real gardens, they just take less back breaking work to create and maintain.

just looking at your pic' raised beds would have fitted very nicely, and controlling weeds that bit easier as there would be no seed in the medium to start with, so what i can suggest is like with raised beds mulch your gardens heavily we go to about 8"s. the upside no weeds the downside not many volunteer plants grow either.

would suggest developing beds along the contours that is across what slope you have this way they trap rain water. the other way could cause errosion.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page

i don't know if you have time still this season to try this method?

i don't use many chemicals but i do make an exception for glycophosphate (Round-up), especially when preparing a new planting area. Till, water, fertilize, spray baby weeds. Repeat. Mulch. Works pretty well. Since the weeds are still small you can mix the product at the lowest strength and still get good results.

i hear some people use a gas flamer in place of the herbicide with good results but i don't have any experience with that. i'd like to try it one day, might eliminate the problem of herbicide drift.

If you decide to give it a go make sure the product you select has only glycophosphate in it. Some of the newer herbicides combine chemicals. No one needs a preemergent in the vegetable garden ; )

I'm not against mulch, but have never mulched my garden in my whole life. I always used a hoe to weed. It's very efficient and has been used since ancient times. It takes some practice to become good at it though. For your 14'x70' garden, it may take about 1 hour to completely weed. In a whole year, you only need to weed 3~4 times. The 1st key for efficient weeding by hoe is to plant your garden colomn by rows straight, like a matrix. You should see straight rows by looking from the 4 sides of the bed. The 2nd key is to weed your garden when it's hot and dry (best at noon time). Never hoe your garden when it's wet or just after rain.

Last year was my first year too at this location.

I use a lawnmower or weed whacker to mow the paths (and I scatter clover seed on the paths (I use a modified Square Foot Gardening style but do not have raised beds - I use 25' by 4' patches. I think some call it French Intensive).

I cover the beds in black plastic. I bought a roll of it at the hardware store (they call it "vapor barrier) - I lay it loose on the dirt and hold it down with some bricks. I still have half a roll left, I think the box was something like $30.

The plastic holds some moisture in the ground (there is still a significant amount of ventilation, I have poked holes at the bottom of water puddles, etc., there are large (3-4") holes for the plants, plus the edges are not "tucked"., early in the season, the black plastic warms the soil, but by the time the sun is HOT, the plants are so big that the sun doesn't hit the ground.

Should a weed come up through a plant hole or a vent, it can be easily dealt with. It is ALMOST weed free.

I also tried doing one bed with newspaper--I had a lot of trouble with that bed(we get a lot of wind here), and it took a lot longer, and I had to do a lot more maintenance...

I have a 12' x 24' raised bed garden at home and a plot at a local community garden.

The weeds at the community garden must be on steroids! It is impossible to keep up with them by weeding. We are not allowed to use chemicals like Roundup, but I wouldn't spray that stuff in my vegetable plots anyway. The only way to keep the weeds under control is to cover every inch of soil with a physical barrier.

The first year I mulched with straw, but the weeds just poked up through and laughed at me. Last year I used newspaper topped with grass clippings in the beds and cardboard in the paths. That worked well, but it was too much work to set up.

This year I bought a 4' x 300' roll of Lumite landscape fabric from Shawfabrics.com for $100 plus shipping. It is guaranteed to last 5 years in direct sunlight, and typically lasts much longer. It is also sturdy, so I can pull it up at the end of the season and reuse it for several years. I do not used black plastic because it does not let air and water through.

Lexie

Why don't you check with some carpet-layers to see if they will let you have old carpeting they take up to replace with new? You can cut it into 2- or 3-foot strips for your walkways between the rows and cut down on some of the weed-growing that way. Turn the strips upside down so the color fibers are next to the soil. Then you'll have only the rows where you plant things to worry about. You can mulch around your plants with cardboard, newspapers, hay, straw, etc.

As time goes by, you can remove the carpet strips and replace them with something more organic, but they're great for a quick fix.

The vapor barrier is by far the coolest idea I have come across, my brother uses straw hay and I have container gardens so I make my kids (3) do it for me!

Here is a link that might be useful: robs urban farm

OIF

Er... Did you mean to post this here?