If you cover the "weeds" with something theat will deny them access to the sunlight they need to grow they will die, just as any most other plant will when denied access to sunlight. When we established the community garden on some vacant land downtown I had, for quick access, 50 inch wide (the width of the tiller) turned with grassy strips about that wide between and all the people tht gardeded there thought that a very good idea since they could now work what they planted without walking on the soil their plants were growing in, compacting it. Strips 48 0r 50 inches wide are simply much easier to work, if the Square Foot Gardnenig concept is not acceptable, then one big wide garden with about 50 percent of the space in the tilled area waste.

You are right, roundup won't work except with active growing green plants. The lasagna system will work fine if you mow or weed eat the area down, then pile on wet newspaper and all sorts of organic matter or just shredded leaves or grass clippings or compost. YOu can even skip the newspaper layer if you layer the organic matter thickly. Pile it higher than you want your elevated area to be becoz it will shrink down between now and spring. You can even just lay an old rug or sack down. I used to lay bags of storebought mulch down where I was going to make a garden. Leave them a few days, and the grass was very much dying underneath. Then I would start my lasagna layers. Good luck.

If you live in a more rural area you can put a temporary fence and chicken house on the spot for a year. The chickens will eat the plants and their seeds, dig into the soil and clay which will aerate and work in nutrients and they fertilize a lot. I've read about people using the chicken method to prepare garden plots.

There are some, few, urban areas in this country that are using common sense and allowing people in these urban areas to maintain small flocks of chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese, and even a few rabbits. Unfortunately there are also many urban areas where the houses are all made of tickey tacky and are all in a row that mandate the dull sameness that is the typical subdivision today.

Putting down a layer of fresh chicken poo at the bottom of your lasagna bed will also work to kill the weed and grass seed. It is very "hot" and will burn the seeds. I didn't do this with mine and the second year I had weed seeds germinating.

Agree across the board; layering something on it will work. I don't go too crazy in the fall with the layers, my garden is mostly composting material. In the spring, after I plant, and after the perennials start peeking out, I put down newspaper, 3 or 4 sheets thick, and then put a thin layer of mulch. My neighbor told me she didn't need the paper because she layered four inches of mulch. Within a week she was weeding. I pulled less than ten weeds all summer. And I spent a lot less money.
By the way, I do little weeding before I layer. There is some satisfaction of pulling a weed, root and all, out of the compost loosened soil, but that's for my "fun;" it isn't necessary. Stubborn weeds just get a heavier dose of paper.

The Lasagna or chicken/rabbit manure will work on all annuals(seeds),some perennial also. Black plastic to stop sunlight & water or clear plastic if it is hot in your area. The clear plastic will stop water & trap heat to dry & kill most plants. If you have Coastal Bahia grass,wild garlic (Allium vineale) Or wild dew berry (Rubus eubtus). Then move away & never look back. I have been fighting these weeds for 5 years & I have gained 480 square feet of beds, but can not make new beds for fighting the 3, which are tiring to invade my beds. My brother has tired to kill them in his garden with round-up. the grass & garlic come back from the root& the dewberries do not die at all. The only way you can tell the round-up was applied to dew berries is the new growth has misshaped leaves. Why don't I grow the dewberries for fruit? They have small fruit & bear small amounts, besides I have blackberries.
I have tired covering the weeds with burlap bags & they come though anything less the 4 bags & grow in any crack they find. Okay, I am not moving so maybe I should not tell you to. Good Lucky- P.S. if you win the war Let us know what you did, Please.

Ohhh...I hate those black plastic covers. Weeds eventually come through where it breaks down or had been cut to plant, and then the weeds and plastic get all tangled. I like that newspaper breaks down by seaons end, and that worms love it.

Ohhh... I do too, it is always a bad ideal! I did not explain myself very well. I am talking about, to kill weeds only.
Not as a mulch, just to kill off roots, fatty fibrous roots & tuber or bulbs. Never...never as mulch!

I get it; kind of a temporary thing.
The reason I had such a reaction is because I am having a black plastic pain as we speak. We moved here a year and 4 months ago; last summer I did little, but jump on a fall prep in an area that was the former owners' garden. Piled on the kitchen scraps, UCG, shredded paper, etc. After about a month of this, I saw a little piece of black plastic sticking out. AGGGG. I've been pulling it up, piece by piece, a little at a time as it shreds and tears, to clear it out. I want to scream sometimes when it's stuck on something. We're at a standstill now, because of frozen ground, but there's still a lot more to pull up in the spring.