The 3 bottom sprouts with red stems are either beets or chard, if you sowed a red chard.

I don't know what the top ones are but they don't resemble poke weed imo. Possibly something along the lines of a Chenopodium. Just hand weed them out or use a hoe.

Did you sow in rows? if you broadcast seed and are unfamiliar with the appearance of vegetable seedlings and your local weed seedlings it can get confusing. If you sow in marked rows you can just hoe out anything outside the rows and know you are fairly safe.

Agree with floral. The weed seedlings look like lambsquarters (Chenopodium album) to me.

Rodney

Thanks floral and Rodney. I sowed in rows, but there was some seed migration after rain/wind, so it's hard to tell the difference in some parts of the bed.

Easiest way to get rid of them....get yourself a piece of 1/4" hardware cloth. Take the top 2 inches of soil in the bed and use the hardware cloth to screen the soil. All of those small weedlings will get caught. It might sound like a pain, but trust me, you will be amazed at how effective it is.

I would wait until I could distinguish the diff.

fwiw - lambsquarter is an edible plant.

Good to know it's edible - If some of the garden goes unplanted, I may let a few grow. Once I can tell the difference between my vegetables and weed, I'll try the screening method pitcom recommends. In areas where I currently have nothing planted, I can go ahead and try screening.

Not only that but it will not screen any weed seeds which btw survive 40+ yrs in the soil until someone turns over the soil and it now can see the sunlight. Which is another benefit of "No-Till".

Just like anything in life that took time to get this way - it will take time and effort to un-do. It may be worthwhile to take a season to un-do - do you have children who can help or you can hire?

I would begin buy mowing as short as possible then doing some manual removal followed by watering to get the seeds ready to germinate and covering with plastic to choke the life out of whatever germinates.

Good point on the screening - it does sound labor intensive, and the weeds may just come back. I'm working in about 200 sq feet of raised beds, so although there are a ton of these weed seedlings, I can probably manage by plucking and hoeing (even though they will just come back). Hopefully the plants grow faster than the weeds, so I can distinguish the difference and get the weeds out where I already have things planted.

To tell the difference consider buying (or growing your own) seedlings.

I direct seeded chard/beets/carrots, but since both the vegetable sprouts and weeds look so similar (for these vegetables) and are so small, it makes it a bit difficult - but I understand what you're saying for other veggies that can be transplanted. It's easier for me to tell the difference between things like lettuce/spinach sprouts and these weeds b/c they look different.

When planting you might try sowing a few seeds of each crop in small pots with weed-seed-free potting mix. Then use the known seedlings in the pots for comparision with what's in the garden beds. From your IDs you can decide what stays and what gets removed. But soon you will learn the recognize the various seedlings and won't need any samples to help.

Weeding out most of the unwanteds when they are small is quick with a hoe, even a hand held hoe/cultivator. Just pull it over the seedlings on a warm sunny day so they are sliced off at the soil line. A little while in the sun will fry them and you won't even see the "organic matter" you have added to the soil. A mulch of straw, untreated grass clipping, or crumbly leaves from last fall can be put on top of the soil once the wanted veggies are a bit larger. It will help prevent weeds from growing and retain soil moisture.