Thanks corrinel,some good points here.
I know several people who have used old carpet for just this purpose,For thoses who would be interested, keep in mind that carpet is full of chemicals.fermaldehyde for one, which will seep into your soil,if you planting veggies, you may not want to do this.
someone else suggested vinegar,sprayed first,then black bags on top, covered with muclh,another great idea, tis is the one I think I will try.
cAROL

I use old carpeting between my planting beds--keeps down on weeds. It's not 100% because soil does work down into the nap and windblown seeds can sprout in it, but it's no problem to take care of them with a spritzing of kitchen vinegar.

For creating new bed space I've used a very heavy piece of 4' x 8' plywood. I left it in place for several months at a time and then lifted it to replace elsewhere. You still have to amend the soil that was covered with the board, but it's not as difficult as pulling up chunks of sod and then amending the soil. My last piece of plywood lasted about five years before it disintegrated--it was worth the expense. And, while the board was on the ground, I kept large containers of DET toms atop it. Nice.

T

Oh, I didn't think about the carpet containing formaldehyde, so did some research.

"Carpets do not contain significant amounts of formaldehyde. However, carpets can trap formaldehyde within its fibers from other sources. This trapped formaldehyde may be released later when humidity and temperature changes occur." (http://healthychild.org/issues/chemical-pop/formaldehyde/)

I also found a 1972 article about using carpet in the garden.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mother Earth News article

What I have used personally is thick layers of wet newspaper covered with mulch. It does take alot of layers to kill some things - like Bermuda grass. I try to put down 6-8 layers. That takes care of most things. The Bermuda sometimes takes more than one application. (It's evil!) But what I like about the newspapers is that they eventually disintegrate into the soil. I don't have to pull them up. Later on, there are tons of earthworms under the remnants when you dig. I put down fresh papers and mulch on areas under trees and shrubs where I may not have other things planted once a year or so. In other areas, I tend to plant thickly to choke out the weeds, but the beds were started with papers and mulch.

According to Sharon Lovejoy's book 'Trowel & Error,' she recommends that you "March with the Times" referring to the New York Times, topped with 3" of mulch. I followed her suggested 30 thicknesses of newspapers when I tackled the slope on the north side of my garage. It's very close to being a lovely cottage garden after 3 years of hard work. For the big flowerbed south of the house I used heavy corrugated cardboard topped with bark mulch.

For smothering, I prefer multiple layers of paper - cardboard, newspaper, brown paper shopping bags, pizza boxes, etc. The paper can be covered with a tidy mulch of aged wood chips, leaves, compost, bark mulch, or whatever. Or not so tidy - I don't get fanatical about bits of paper here and there because it all eventually breaks down and goes away. And the worms love it!

BTDT with landscape fabric, black plastic, clear plastic, and other odd materials and they all become something of a pain because it requires extra work to remove these materials or you're left with inorganic materials in the garden. Clear plastic is good for solarizing, but it breaks down in sunlight and will become zillions of smaller pieces of plastic if not removed in a timely fashion (ask me how I know this....). No worry with paper because it decomposes.

I am using a couple large pieces of lightweight indoor/outdoor carpet for temporary smothering here and there that works well. Easy to move around but it sure is fugly. :)

Isn't it funny,how your mind sometimes thinks only one way.
I started a few new flower beds last year,used cereal boxed,crackers boxes,big,cardboard boxes, news paper and other types of cardboard,worked out great,because I was starting a new bed.Now, I ask you, why didn't my mind tell me to do this in front with the goose neck?I think I have gardeners block.
Gurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr,I just left a HUGE,piece of cardboard at my daughters last week!!!
I will be checking out Lows and a few other places for big pieces of cardbard.
cAROL

I tried the cardboard method with my a huge section of lawn that will be a rain garden. My neighbors are all trying to help collect cardboard and milk jugs this year to see what kind of crazy new thing I will try on my yard. I had success with the jugs last year but we will see how my smothering project went come spring with all my new jugs. I heard I should have put down some clover if I was not putting down mulch right away as mother nature will plant something there. Is that right?
Yes I am new to gardening let alone this addictive winter sport.

We used cardboard/newspaper topped with lasagna layers last spring to expand & connect our front and side beds.

Here's the view from the driveway to woods to connect front to side yards and around the cherry tree. The rock path directs the water runoff from our driveway and roof. All the rocks were gathered from our driveway and vegetable garden over the years.
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Another view from grass back to driveway with driveway vegetable garden in background (Did you notice the blue pot of hand tools? I pulled out the plastic liner pot of plants so I could have a handy spot for the tools and cut open milk jugs for the little sprouts of weeds that came up. I was still planting out divisions in mid-summer.)
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This year should be even better as plants will mature more and we'll have winter sown beauties to add more blooms.