Rent a Rototiller or buy one (link URL below). It will rip out all roots, rocks and weeds. You can then till in some compost, add organic nutrients like Rock Phosphate, green sand, Blood Meal, Bone meal and you have a great start. If you have very bad soil, add in some vermiculite (expensive) but it will greatly improve your soil quality. Alternatively you can use raised beds but that drives the cost up as you have to buy soil as well as the hardware for setting up the raised beds. Here is a link that might be useful: Light weight but powerful tiller

Teeka, As one of those reporters, I'm sorry you're disappointed in us. Honestly, I'm often disappointed in us too. But please be aware that the industry is undergoing a massive shake-out - different and much more catastrophic for us than the general economic recession. A higher percentage of newspaper reporters have lost their jobs in the past two years than in the auto industry. We're up there with the finance industry in terms of lay-offs, and for as much as some people hate the media, there's no question, at least we didn't cause this recession. In a few years, there probably won't be daily newspapers in several of our largest cities. The newspapers that are around now have far fewer reporters than they did a decade ago. And many of those reporters are being asked to do many more things than they used to do - post on blogs, shoot, edit and post videos, host chats, etc. Some of us are really trying hard to save the industry, in order to save journalism, so that people get the news they want and need, whether it be about industrial agriculture, political corruption in Washington, the war in Iraq or your local school board meeting. I'm hopeful that we'll find a way, but the business model is collapsing and no one has come up with a viable alternative yet. So we may not. Just my little defense of journalism. And gardenwebbers please be aware, your favorite local garden writers are especially vulnerable right now. If you read one you particularly enjoy or rely on, consider an email to let his or her bosses know. A lot of times, the bosses making these difficult decisions don't know what readers want or like. A vocal following can help save a job. Ok. I'll stop. (And I'm not a garden writer. I'm a legal affairs writer and sometimes war correspondent... so there's very little anyone here can do to save my job when and if it comes up on the chopping block. It would be unethical for me to post something like the above if it would have helped me personally. I post only in hopes of helping people understand what we're going through, and how serious it truly is.) Susannah

Vinegar, in the 10 to 20 percent solutions not the normal household 5 percent solution, is a plant killer. When applied properly, at the right time, bright, hot sunny day, it can kill all the top growth of plants it contacts. Just pouring it on will not really do much since it must contact the plant foliage. I have seen nothing to indicate what Vinegar does to soil bacteria, but since it will kill plants I would suspect that it would adversly affect soil bacteria in some way. I do know that earthworms do not like Vinegar, even normal household Vinegar. Rather than pouring something that will cost you a lot of money on your soil, and will not do the job you want done as well as you think, put down some newspaper and cover the newspaper with a good mulch, to hide the paper and hold it in place, and that will kill the "weeds" you have, prevent others from growing, aid in soil moisture retention, and just generally make growing conditions better for the plants you put there.

I have used 20% horticultural vinegar frequently. I have bought online and found in a local German food grocery (commonly used to make pickles). I've had great success in using the super strength, with some limitations. First, the smell is pretty strong. I wore a mask and still had a dizzy smell from the vinegar. Second, your place will smell like vinegar for a while. We had a neighbor ask if we were making fish and chips and dousing with vinegar. Third, I noticed some temporary staining on my pavers where I sprayed with vinegar. The bleaching did go away after a few days, but I was worried that I accidentally bleached the walkway. So you might want to patch test. I used this type of vinegar to both kill weeds and to prevent them. It's great at killing above the surface but I've found they come back. More info on killing weeds with vinegar can be found here https://www.getgreenbewell.com/use-vinegar-to-kill-weeds/