Sounds like some form of landscape fabric to me and as others have stated, been there, done that, and wouldn't do it again. In a blackberry plot I might do it because of their growth nature, but in a perennial bed no. There is a belief that landscape fabric will permanently prevent weeds from spreading, but a couple of years ago at my parent's place we removed a whole section - about 30 feet in diameter. It was the most difficult thing a few workers and I had ever done. She had unknowingly planted a suckering shrub which started coming up through the fabric after few years. When we removed the fabric we saw the extent of the root system of this monster under the fabric and needed a backhoe to get it out! In essence, the fabric hid the growing problem underneath for about 10 years... If the fabric had not been there, the problem would have been noted much earlier and would have been dealt with much easier. My practice of mulching with organics to feed the soil which in turns feeds the plants was confirmed as being a good practice. :O) In the gardens, I mulch with mostly a combo of shredded leaves and UCGs - Used Coffee Grounds... For paths, I use sheets of newspaper topped with wood chips from a sawmill up the road. You can see one path behind the raised gardens it in the following photo.

Magan, First, I'd like to approach the subject of mulching. I never used to do it. For years I gardened without mulching. Then we moved and the gardening projects got bigger. Bigger piece of land = bigger gardens. Working fulltime with a family, gardening time is somewhat limited. And of course, the weather is not always co-operative. In 2003, I decided to go 'organic', and began making my own compost. Last year I mulched a garden for the first time. All of a sudden, I found myself enjoying this garden vs weeding and watering all the time. Furthermore, the compost which I mulched with was initially slightly unfinished, but by this spring it had turned into beautiful loamy soil - and that's a rarity here on the roacky coast of N.S.!! This year I am redoing all the gardens and mulching with compost made during the winter. In the garden beds which have already been done... well, I am watching them grow and not weeding and watering every time I walk through them. In terms of weeding, I use a simple little three claw tool - not sure what the term is for those. I loosen the soil, fluff it, and run my fingers through it which seems to bring the roots to the surface, and then I hot compost all which kills seeds and roots. (My mother taught me the fluffing technique when I was a child and I truly enjoyed gardening and weeding with her!) I do have a 'claw' with the long handle, but use it mostly for removeing sod from new areas in which I'd like to make new gardening beds. Also, my plants are too close together to use this tool. I'd love to get the Dandelion remover - future purchase!

Thank you for sharing your methods. The hori hori knife seems like a good choice, it would be more like the in between the dandelion weeder (thingamajjingy) that Marti described better as a dandelion prybar and the small handheld spade I use now. Will have to find me one of those. Weed claw - is that a good one to have as well? Do you have a specific one you'd recommend. I saw one on a drill, a hand held on a long handle from fiskars or am I looking at the wrong thing? This is btw only for my flower beds and maintenance weed pullling where I'd like to minimize disturbing the mulch as much as possible. Our house is built on old pasture land so we don't really try to have nice grass or worry about the weeds growing in there. They tend to keep it green and my DH mows it regularly.

Sometimes I don't even turn one of my computers on over the weekend during "growing season," but today I discovered the wonders of the garden fork and had to come here to thank you, aloha2009, for starting this thread, and you, Steve, for bringing the gardening fork to my attention. I have had one for quite a few years, actually, and it is an old one, obviously used by someone else for years; I never used it. Someone gave me another one, modern rendition with a shorter handle, doesn't appear to be as well made. I never used that one, either. Today I needed to make a bed for some more tomato plants, having run out of room where I had my others planted. The bed was originally planted with Irises and some other perennials. It was overrun last year by Quack Grass, or whatever that nasty grass with the foot long roots is called, had such a wet spring that I couldn't even get to it until it was about a foot or more tall and I was never able to get it under control. This year, of course, the grass is even happier and taller because I haven't been able to work on it as yet; other things were a priority. l normally use a shovel and cut up the area for a new bed or an overrun one in "bite size pieces," so to speak, then get down on my knees to laboriously dig out each chunk and pull up all the roots, using my soil knife to pry it out of this lovely mostly-clay soil I have, breaking up the clods with the knife and my fingers. (This year for the first time in my life, my hands - thumbs especially - are objecting strenuously to gardening (I suspect I am getting arthritis) so this part of my gardening has been somewhat painful as well as time-consuming.) Enters the garden fork - the old one with the nice long handle. I gave it a try this morning and IT IS MARVELOUS! It easily penetrates the soil and mass of grass roots, acts like a lever to pull the darn stuff right out of the ground where it can have the soil easily shaken off, also pulls out the bindweed - of course, this too has taken advantage of the jungle some of my backyard beds have become - with lots more of the root than I am usually able to get with just the shovel/soil knife/hands method. I already have about a third of the bed done in approximately 30 minutes; it would have taken me an hour or more, I think, with my old method. And my thumbs don't hurt! Can't believe it took me so long to find out about such a useful tool, one that farmers and gardeners have been using for centuries, but now I have "discovered" it, so thank you, thank you, thank you! Holly