I once bought a great weed stabber at an estate sale;
it started its life as a regular little weed stabber (a sharp forked tip on a short handle), but the gardener had replaced the short handle with a long hoe handle.

This thing must have been made in the 1940's or '50's, & it still works!

I use cardboard. It's getting harder and harder for me to garden with osteo arthritis. I collect boxes all winter and have a hidden place in my yard where I leave them outside. They are easy to open up after getting rained on a few times. If it's unsightly to you or your neighbors complain, they can be covered with grass clippings or some other kind of mulch. Oh, the worms love cardboard as it breaks down. You can add more towards the end of the season.

HI Everyone!
I admit I have some confusion right now (not from you!). But I too am looking for a way to control weeds, and currently can't afford or lift mulch. I get confused about cardboard. Do you just lay on top of the ground, once it's saturated? How does it keep from drying out in sun? Or blowing away? I don't think I have enough grass cuttings routinely to cover.

I've heard of layers of newspaper too.. Again I wonder about drying out in sun, etc..staying in place.

I have compost pile (I haven't been able to turn, and I don't think hot enough at all to kill weed seeds) so I'm afraid to pile half finished on top of that. Besides, my dog likes to eat and the vet yelled at me last year, as something made her sick. (I don't know what. NOTHING composted is anything but organic)...

I have such severe pain and fatigue..but am trying.

Amy
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I have gardened all of my life and cannot imagine not being able to grow things. I have always tried to be organic. One day, as I was struggling, I realized it was either start using Round-up or give up gardening. I shudder everytime I get the spray out but at least I have a tolerable garden and plants have room to grow. I have also hired someone to help me with the weeding.

greyandamy - you might want to look at a 'flame wand'. It runs on butane gas and is excellent for at least subduing tricky weeds such as dandelions or frizzling new weedlings. If your hands are giving you trouble then you may be able to get some sort of harness to take some of the weight on your upper body.

It's very old fashioned - but a sharp draw hoe can be good for slicing off young weeds - as can a long-handled claw cultivator. I'm not promoting anything here - just giving a reference to check to see what's available: have a look at Wolf tools. They're a German company.

One way you might be able to deal with your composting issue is to 'start a wormery'. You can get plastic boxes that stack like a beehive and they often have a tap on the bottom one so you can draw off the 'worm water.' It makes great liquid fertiliser - dilute it until it's the colour of weak tea or amazingly dilute coffee. (You should be able to see through it.) As it fills, though, you might need help to empty out a layer or so. It's brilliant for using around treasured plants (except cacti, because it holds moisture very well). Oh, and avocado pits sprout in it - but the skins do rot down very well.

With a cold and unturned compost stack - just keep adding to it and it will keep on rotting down. Eventually the bottom layer will be that beautiful dark humus - with weed seeds. (Some seeds can last in that sort of duff for more than thirty years and still pop up.)

If you can get someone to help you clear it out - put it on the garden for autumn/fall. The birds will forage in it and spread it around. The frost will subdue the growth (might even kill it) and you'll be set for an easier spring planting as the soil will be much easier to turn over.

Cardboard and such. Probably better under a solid mulch, such as bark nuggets, to hold in moisture. I know the tiger worms love it (the compost worms) but it doesn't take long for earwigs and sowbugs to demolish it.

Hope your flare eases for you soon so you can enjoy the summer.

I've been using cardboard and newspapers for years to suppress weeds. To keep newspapers and cardboard in place I top them with an old broken pot or a heavy twig or something. Plus, I read an article last week that suggested it was better to cut weeds than to pull them, because pulling them up by the roots distrubs the soil and encourages sleeping seeds to germinate. I've also, and I blush here, been cutting weeds in my flower gardens for years. I realy don't have much strength left. But from the street, no one sees the cardboard or the cut-off weeds. (Still blushing about it, though.)

I use alot of cardboard and mulch on top but this year when I was "down in the back' the Queen Anns Lace has taken over am afraid to let my husband weed eat in that area because everything is a weed and this is my rose garden and the QAL are so tall and thick you can't see the rose bushes I am slowly trying to get some out I am hoping I can get the seeds before they come up in Spring.