Tehre is no way around it....either pull the weeds, cultivate, or mulch....and usually all 3.
Gardening ain't a walk in the park...but with lots of mulch and attention to what's going on it really can be an easy thing.
There is lots of free mulch. Try the lumber yard and their sawdust pile.
Linda C

Geranium macrorrhizum and ajuga both do an admirable job of choking out weeds for me. I've got one of the bronze leaved ajugas (it was given to me, and I don't know the variety) that spreads pretty quickly, and keeps most weeds down. You do want to watch that it doesn't creep out into your lawn, though. The geranium doesn't multiply as quickly as the ajuga, but is fairly low, and a good filler plant that looks good all the time.

Grass clippings are free. I've been using them on my veggie garden and they are wonderful. They dry to a nice yellow tan color which is not unattractive.

The problem with groundcovers is that, while they do choke out weeds (to a degree), they often become weedy themselves. The time you'd spend weeding you would now spend trying to keep the groundcovers where they are supposed to be and out of the lawn, the flowerbeds, and the rest of Planet Earth. I don't really use them for this reason (my property is too small) but there are so many out there for both shade and sun if you're willing to put the time into keeping them in bounds.

I have some lamium in the shade, it's pretty nice and dense. I also have phlox subtulata, delosperma, and veronica "Waterperry". These are all slow, dense spreaders (so far).

LOL, jackie! I'm losing the weed battle too, but I like your idea for a birthday gift! Maybe I should ask for one of those too...

:)
Dee

In lieu of the half undressed gardener, I treated myself to a good Scuffle Hoe. When it doesn't rip the weeds up root and all, it sure sets them back!

Do you have a city compost place? They usually have mountains of mulch free for the taking.

I also recommend Geranium macrorrhizum as a weed choking ground cover. I also enjoy the fresh apple scent of the foliage on a hot, humid day. A side benefit seems to be the deer do not share my enjoyment of the fragrance & never bother anything planted within 10' of Geranium macrorrhizum. I use these geramiums to protect my hostas 'Blue Angel' that I've used to ring a white pine.

But, the real test of how well these geramiums hold down weeds is in the front of my property. We do not have sidewalks & live on the shore. The area where pavement meets soil is extraordinarily sandy. This means, that the crabgrass is just terrible. I battled the crabgrass & the crabgrass won. Until this year that is...

Last spring, I planted 30 Bluestone babies along the street. This year, they've grown large & formed a 18-20" tall hedge at the feet of our shrub border that has, so far, not allowed a single crabgrass plant to sprout! They are thriving even in the very sandy soil with no extra water from me after initial establishment last spring. Great problem-solving plants!

Tricia

I 3d the Geranium macrorrhizum. It will tolerate full shade & does not become a weed itself. It is easy to remove from where you do not want it & if it is promptly deadheaded will not self-sow around. I use it to replace vinca as a groundcover.

Cornell University did a study of a few different ground covers and their weed-barrier effectiveness (see results at link below).

Alchemilla mollis (Lady's Mantle) sure does the job in my garden.

-Caroline

Here is a link that might be useful: Cornell Ground Cover Study results

Great link, Caroline-thanks for posting that!
Tricia-I wouldn't have thought of the Geranium to plant along a sidewalk..cool! I've got crabgrass and various other nasties that come up along my front walk. Guess I'll be splitting the GM!
I'm glad you posted this question, Jackie-you helped me out-thanks! The consensus is in, sounds like you need some geranium macrorrhizum, lol! Who knows, maybe the UPS driver does half-naked gardening on the side ;)
Brenda

I've had luck with plumbago and I love it's three-season interest but my husband thinks it chokes out our good plants as well. I have it billowing around the shrubs in my front beds. It chokes out encroaching grass and weeds. I think tightly planted edging plants that don't spread would work too. I have used lady's mantle and low-growing veronicas for that purpose and they work in my raised beds.

Sedum spurium cultivars do a very good job in full sun to part shade. I have one --unidentified , because it clearly is not the 'dragon's blood' it was labeled as--that I also got as plugs from Bluestone years ago. It actually grows better and faster with a good amount of water and fertility.

Oh heavens, yes - groundcover geranium. "Biokovo" is a wonderful cultivar and will grow pretty much anywhere - probably even in a closet LOL!

Plumbago is also quite nice, and those electric-blue flowers are stunning in the fall.

Question on grass clippings. Don't the seeds from the grass make more weeds?

I don't think the grass clippings itself will cause any problems. I used it to mulch in my potted lemon tree. As long as there isn't a lot of weed in your yard (filling the clippings with their seeds) or your grass isn't so tall that it has gone to seed, it should be ok. Plus--it's free and you have to put your clippings somewhere! ;-)

Jackie:

In some of the flowerbeds we have created in our yard I have removed the grass, set down newspaper, planted and then mulched. Of course eventually the newspaper will deteriorate but generally your plants have become established by that time. Hope this helps. I get my nespapers from the local coffee shop after a busy Sunday morning.

Kate

While you're picking up the newspapers, ask about coffee grounds. Most coffee shops are happy to let you cart these away, and they make a great, free mulch. The shops usually separate these out from their trash in hopes that someone will use them.

The only problem I've had is removing the coffee filters, which doesn't take long, and the awful smell from the flavored coffees, which dissipates very quickly.

Plumbago...perennial in zone 5? Do you know the cultivar?

The plumbago that is hardy in Zone 5 is not plumbago, it is Ceratostigma plumbaginoides. It is a late-emerging ground cover with amazing blue flowers in Fall, just when its leaves start to turn bright red.