Mulch. Thick. Straw or old hay are my personal favorites. No weeds, stabilizes soil moisture levels, lowers need for watering, prevents soil splash back onto plants when it rains, decomposes in place, feeds and improves the soil.

Lots of discussions here on mulching if you want to browse through them.

Dave

You can buy some tarps to cover the ground, but a few months before you make the garden or right after you are done with it. I left a tarp on the ground and nothing grew underneath it the whole winter.

For a garden you can use that black paper mulch rolls in between the rows or try to make your own. 3 layers of newspapers are supposed to kill weeds by the Lasagna Garden rules. It will just add mulch to the garden when it decomposes. You might wet your newspapers as you lay them down so they won't blow away. Once they are dry, they will more than likely stick together. Just add a layer if you should see a hole.

You can also cover with cheap straw, mulch, or rocks. I don't know how many years mulch will last, but rocks are indefinite and worth the effort to collect or buy, but you will have to remove them to do any digging, rake them maybe.

In the old grape orchards they cover their soil with rocks to heat the ground up early, so if it will work for grapes, it can work for vegetables. I don't know if I would use lime rocks though, if you have alkaline soil, I wonder if it would effect the soil? You surely don't need lime in alkaline soil and it would take years for your soil to overcome it.

Good luck.

I forgot to add that you can grow your own ground cover like clovers, or those spinach strawberries. Some low growing ground cover would do fine and you can get seeds from over the internet or at a local farmers coop by the pound.

kentstar, my weeds have taken me over in the past. I had to hire a gardener to weed for me they were so badddd. This year I laid down Preen. It worked like a champ and I didnt have any weeds until only recently and they are only in a couple parts of my garden. Zero weeds until late season when it must have weared off. I will use it again next year. I'm sold.

Another way is just pull them as soon as and whenever and wherever you find them. There are plants that you can mulch around them and there are ones not pactical, such as chives, dills, lettuce. So pulling(weeding) is a good mental garden medition to me. Whe I touch that soil, weeds, I feel relaxed and at home. My ingredient come from soil, after all.
Even God made Adam from soil (Grin, wink wink)
cyrus

Resist the urge for "quick fixes" regular attention with a very sharp hoe and a few years of not letting the weeds reseed themselves will greatly reduce weed populations. That and the aforementioned mulch material on the paths.

you can control a lot of weeds by laying down a few layers of newspaper and covering them with grass clippings. cheap and easy!!!!

also raised beds, they don't have to be very deep, help organize your plantings and your areas that have to be weeded.

marial, how soon should I apply Preen? A month before planting? As soon as planted? I have some Preen, but my hubby didn't use it at all, and now his veggie garden looks like a weed jungle.

An unmentioned alternative. Especially good if you're near the end of production.
Plant buckwheat, thick coverage. Either turn it under at four weeks, or mow, cover thinly with organic material or dirt, plant again.
Three continuous rotations will rid most all weeds from your soil, while adding the green manure. You may need to water to speed germination. Buckwheat jumps up quickly and shade mulches other plants.
Nothing is permanent of course. Wildlife is constantly making deposits to the seed bank.