mulch is the solution...

then plant the groundcover thru the mulch.. and make it pretty ...

that is.. if you want the job done this season...

if you have 3 to 5 years.. to plant the plants... and keep weeding out the weeds.. until the good plants take over and fill in the area... that will work.. but it will take a long time to develop the density of soil coverage you need...

many of the weeds.. drop their seeds.. and need sunlight to germinate.. and by covering such with mulch.. you can significantly reduce the plague.. while giving the good plants time to get established ...

ken

I have a long bed as well that I have been battling weeds. In most of our other beds we have used chopped oak leaves. Since we're surrounded by oaks, they aren't hard to come by. They definitely keep down the weeds which then buys me time to plan for planting. We just havent had enough to do that particular area yet, but this year is the year. I bought a stirrup hoe this year and it has been my best friend back there. It takes care of large areas of weeds (even clover) quickly. I also covered part of the area with bark mulch for the time being just to give me some space where I didn't have to fight the battle.

When it comes to groundcovers, I have a large area out front that I want to get some groundcovers in, but when I really though about it, I more want to fill it with shorter, interesting plants than a single groundcover which I know would bore me after a while, and I worry that some of the usual groundcovers take over the world.

If you get the weeds under control, and can get some mulch down, you might find you have more time to enjoy picking out shorter plants that you can plant in drifts back there. But if you want to stick with a single groundcover, I agree that mulch would be a first step.
The weeds would just come through the plants making it even harder to get them out without mulch in place.

Would love to see a pic!

For sun, the best groundcover is grass. All of the other common groundcovers are shade plants, whose main purpose is to cover ground where grass won't grow. If the purpose of these beds is to be placeholders while waiting for shrubs to grow, cardboard covered with mulch works well. Also, keep the mulched area small, with the idea it will grow as the plants grow.

I planted periwinkle ground cover (vinca) among other plants to help keep the mulch in place, it's on a slight slope and to cut down on the weeds. It hasn't been invasive and hasn't bloomed much yet. But the weeds have been more minimal.

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If you are mulching before deciding on ground cover, use cardboard under the mulch and you will get a lot more mileage out of it before weeds can break through. And it adds to the health of the soil, earthworms love cardboard.

I have Vinca, but it is in shade and the one time I tried using it in sun, I was very very sorry. In one season, it went from two little plants to a 6ft patch, so out it came. The Vinca I use in shade, is under a mature Maple that is bordered on one side by the street, the other by the driveway the other by the fence and the fourth side has a rock edging that has about 15ft of mulch on the other side of it. So it's been there for years without problem, but you do have to have a situation to restrain it.

Nice pics Crunch!

Vinca, pachysandra, and english ivy are practically indestructible, but likely will need to be controlled! I have lots of Vinca and it's fairly easy to control along the edge of the grass by regular mowing.

For sun, the best groundcover is grass.

The northern turf grass in my yard performs best in part sun. Northern turf grasses (cool season) grow strongly in spring and fall and tend to go dormant in mid-summer. It will naturally brown out in full sun and sometimes is outright killed during a significant drought, without significant inputs of water.

I've also got a side yard of Zoysia grass which is a southern turf grass (warm season) and it stays green all summer, pretty much thrives in full sun. Looks awful in spring or fall though - turns yellow with any frost!

Thanks everyone! Those are amazing advice! :)

Ken, I was really disappointed with the mulch I put last year. There were tons of 3-4 inch long half inch diameter stems. I will buy premium mulch next time.

thyme2dig, will try to take a pic tomorrow.

I like the cardboard idea. I'm not sure if the free boxes from Costco will work.

Awesome pictures Crunch.

Again, thanks everyone. Will keep you posted.

I didn't know I had a video of my whole garden but it was from July 16.

You can see the weeds(far right) at 2:30 at my neighbor's lawn. Those came from my garden bed. :(

There are weeds again but I've sprayed Ortho 2 days ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC1fbIVwou0

It's been my experience that creeping Charlie will grow aggressively over the top of mulch that's spread with cardboard underneath. Rather than Ortho it, I either pull it or use vinegar to kill it.

My parents grew vinca/creeping myrtle on the short, steep hill behind my garage in part/full sun. It's been effective in smothering all but the most persistent weeds/tree seedlings.

Groundcovers for sun include creeping thymes and leadwort, both easy to keep in place.

Crunchpa, those beds are incredible! I'm creating a similar huge bed. This is the second summer and I've found the heavy layer of mulched oak leaves to be priceless. When I need to plant something, I just pull back the leaves and dig the hole. Replace the leaves or leave them as a border to remind me some thing should be growing there. Weeds that do pop up are easily pulled. I was hoping for a bit more decay this summer to allow for reseeding. I'll have to see how things go next spring. Here's a picture from this week.

Cardboard and more cardboard. People think a ground cover will make life easy; however, the weeds often come up in the ground cover. Vinca can be horrible. I've seen it take over an entire ditch bank and the ditch. There are varieties like Vinca 'Illuminstion' that are much nicer and easier to control. I'm using cardboard in a new bed in the back yard. I also cut out circles of it and slit to the middle to put around shrubs. I put enough mulch on top to hide the cardboard. It looks nice and lasts a long time.

If a groundcover is dense enough, it can be quite effective at preventing weeds. One of my favorite dense groundcovers is Veronica prostrata.

Here is a link that might be useful: Groundcovers that prevent weeds

Plumbago, grows in shade or sun. It even shaded out lily of the valley. It has a blue bloom in summer and leaves turn red in fall.

I planted plumbago before but I am not sure what I did. I'm not sure if I dug it and returned it or if it died. Does it sucker?

I have a huge perennial garden (no shrubs) on a septic mound in my backyard. I knew I couldn't afford to put bark mulch down in such a large area and didn't want to deal with vinca (have it elsewhere though) or landscape cloth, which is such a nuisance when you want to add something. So I put in a few pots of a very shallow-rooted sedum that blooms in the spring. It is now everywhere, so I have to fight to keep it out of the lawn, but it does a pretty good job of holding in the moisture. I know it also helps keep down the weeds because wherever I remove it, I soon get a crop of weeds and/or grass.

Best place to get cardboard is at the local bike shop. Nice great big sheets, sometimes double thickness.

Love the creeping Veronicas! Creeping Thyme here loses out to a lot of weeds which can shade it out. The Veronica needs attention too, or at least it lost the battle down at the public park here when the grass invaded the bed. So the city pulled it all out and now there are Stellas-yuck. I used to weed a little patch of wooly thyme that existed on a property that I go by with the dog, but in the two years since I quit it is pretty much covered. Black medic always wins in the end.

aseed, thank you for mentioning bike shops as a place to get cardboard. I've tried appliance stores, but they immediately compact the boxes.

In answer to your question, v1rtu0s1ty, plumbago does sucker. In Colorado, it has to be planted in the spring. Otherwise, it won't have enough time to establish adequate roots before winter comes. Also, it's very slow to leaf out in the spring. The first spring after I planted mine, I thought it had died. But a few weeks later, it came up.

2nd the cardboard layer
top with wood chips from arborist or tree trimmer or your own
no weed seeds in that