We went with hardscape. You can see the one bed I kept mulch in due to having cone flowers. I find that I pull less weeds in my hardscape than previous years of fighting with weeds when it was mulched. What do appear come out far easier. Because it's roots have no where to root down in. My husband also uses weed killer spray and will go about doing a hit and miss on the weeds. But all and all...the hardscape makes weeding far easier...and the critters doesn't toss it about like they did with the mulch. I could never keep mulch in the beds...it was constantly tossed into the grassy areas of our lawn. Come fall...a leaf blower is nice to just go over the beds with...the rocks keep their place and the leaves are blown away. This post was edited by cadillactaste on Thu, Jun 26, 14 at 16:31

The 'ASTILBE' type weed is commonly known as " golden rod". you do not want to keep it, as it will spread and become very invasive. The other weed is of the buttercup family, and will also sprout all over the place. you will need to dig out the roots of these 2 weed types. Here is a link that might be useful: organic gardening.

I had thai basil on the other side of the dill. Scent is slightly lemony. I rake over the tender/annual patches, and if there are two next to each other (e.g., dill, basil), I turn it all over as one big patch, so seeds from one side definitely can get raked around to the other side of the patch. But, I rarely have anything reseed in the tender/annual patches and I turn over the bed each spring. However, we did have a very warm winter so maybe some annuals reseeded. I guess I'll have to wait and see a bit before yanking or maybe transplanting. I can't leave them there since that's the only walking area to get to that part of the yard.

Thanks, both your replies helped. I think I will keep growing the kale for a bit longer. I'll probably pull it in mid/late June and use the space to grow other smaller plants. I'm an urban gardener with very limited outdoor space. Come very late summer/early fall, I'll transplant the kale that I started indoors outside once the other plants are finished. floral_uk - Besides your kale becoming more fibrous, did you notice a difference in taste? I heard anecdotally that flowering can lead to a more bitter flavor. Has that been true in your experience?