Thanks for all the input! Unfortunately, the source of the seeds probably come by the birds and groundsquirrels which are everywhere, and just behind where I stood to take that picture is the woods we live on the edge of...where I'm sure lots of seeds stray from. I'm not at all opposed to using round up! If I use the stuff, how soon after can I try to plant something within the cracks? I found some creeping phlox on sale and bought some. I love it...cascading down other peoples' walls...may take awhile, but I'd love to have that effect myself. I am not sure if the ground squirrels will mess with any plantings....our yard is overrun with them (rock walls especially), but I'd like to try. Thank you for all the suggestions! I am going to read them all more thoroughly and take some notes. I saw a rock wall belonging to a neighbor of a friend of mine on Thursday. They have phlox on the top of theirs...it actually grows into my neighbors yard. Perhaps that might even keep the weeds off the top of the rock walls as well? To the person who suggested inserting smaller rocks in the larger spaces...I've actually started doing that, on another wall, the largest on our property. If interested, I have a photo album that contains pictures of most of our yard...and I believe all but one of the rock walls... you can see them on the link below. yes, I know my whole yard needs a lot of work. Some of you have seen some of these photos before. Here is a link that might be useful: yard album

It's all for a vegetable garden. The beds should stick up 2-4 inches above whatever mulch I use if I use 4 inches of it (more if I use less). The depth of the beds will be more as I intend to dig down directly under the beds to give more depth for better soil I'm going to haul in. I plan to leave some room at the top of the beds to add compost as time goes by. Some of the beds will be 10x4ft with 4ft spacing between them. These will probably be the least of my worries and I'll mulch with newsprint inside the beds with drip irrigation on top to keep it wet (and by so doing, keep it from blowing away). I'm reasonably confident of that part of my plan. Mulching between these beds will be important mostly to avoid the tall weeds, and to avoid anything that likes to spread weed seeds to the rest of the garden. Elsewhere (which is the majority of the garden), my bed setup will be the same in terms of height/depth but widthxlength will be 2x2. The purpose of these will be for larger plants like watermelon, muskmelon, pumpkin, squash, etc. While the pumpkin and squash MIGHT be able to hold their own against the weeds, the watermelon and muskmelon (which will be the bulk of the plants) won't. I proved that this year when I didn't weed some of them in time and the plants didn't put on near the growth they should have due to being shaded. The ones that were weeded in a more timely fashion did fine. Due to the size and quantity (around 125 or so) of these plants, it's really not practical to try building a bed large enough to hold them. The purpose of the bed in their case is to provide for the main stalk/root system. The leaves and fruit will have to be outside the bed on the ground where I need some sort of a mulch system to keep the weeds under control. When these things start growing, mowing obviously won't be an option because I'd destroy my plants. I've got about 9,000 square feet of space here I need to mulch in some fashion, so cheap is important. I can live with spending a bit of money up front if it means I've solved the problem (or the majority of it) for several years. Spreading anything over that much space is a fair amount of work too (and often the work involved is more daunting than the expense - particularly if I end up doing something like rock). Landscape Fabric I tried some experiments with landscape fabric this year and didn't like the results. At a minimum, I'd have to replace it every year if I put it on top, and in that quantity, it's rather expensive for a yearly cost. Newspaper I can afford (I buy the end rolls from the newspaper company), but isn't suitable outside the beds mostly due to wind. Black Plastic I'd consider black plastic, but I don't think it will hold up to foot traffic - assuming it can survive the wind. Astroturf Any sort of outdoor carpeting/astroturf appears to be to expensive. Old Carpet Old used carpeting might be a real option if I can find a ready supply for free/cheap though I have concerns about the chemicals and possible smell. I suspect smell (if there is any) would only be an issue when it's wet during the spring. I can't really see it smelling when it's dry which should be the bulk of the year. Stone The more I read the more I'm afraid it won't do much at all for my weed issue after a few years and then I'll just be stuck battling weeds with a ton of rock involved. Organic Mulch I have doubts about being able to make the expense/longevity make sense here. It might be able to work, but so far the numbers aren't looking right. If it was either cheaper, or if it lasted longer, I could justify it. Cardboard I've got doubts about being able to locate this quantity of cardboard, and far more doubts about being able to make it hold up to the wind. I realize I could pin it, but if the cardboard pieces aren't very big to begin with, I think half the mulch will be pins instead of cardboard. Even with the pins, I'm not sure it could manage the wind. The wind gets really rough here sometimes. Aggressive non-mow groundcover Haven't found anything I think would do the job, I could reasonably source and afford, and I could have in place and ready to take over by next spring - I'm looking for a solution that will be working by next spring. Not one I'm going to have to spend a few years getting up to speed. whatever I do, I don't really mind spreading some more of X every year, or rolling out new cover, etc. but it has to be affordable at those replacement rates. I'm trying to stay below $3K for the beds, soil, and mulch. For $3K, I want a minimum of a 5 year solution, preferably more like a 10. If I spend less, I can live with having to spend more on maintenance each year. I forsee getting some good life out of the soil (if properly maintained which I will) and the beds (if decently built which is the plan). My concern point and issue is the mulch.

Thanks all for sharing your gardens. They are WOW! Davej, I LOVE your BIG hosta!!! Beautiful. LuckyKat13, Can I make an appointment to use your swing? mctavish6, I am green with envy with such beauty.

I have already begun my fall chores of cleaning out some flower beds and the garden. They looked so bad, I just started cutting and pulling things. Christie, that is the Ozarks for you; we are so rocky that the rain just goes down very quickly. We are severely dry here again too and I watered some trees yesterday and also the newly set roses. The mole runs are so bad, the water doesn't run far, just disappears down a mole hole! Don't know if I am getting much good from the water or not. The yard has certainly gone into the fall mode. Mowing and trimming are much less now. I am not sorry about that. EP, glad to see you back. I just finished painting the trim in the dining room. It took about two days. Sure glad to get that done. We have lots of outside trim on some of the outbuildings to do, but will wait for cooler weather to complete that. We are still feeding the birds, both the good, bad and the ugly! The grackles thought the waterer I was using around one of the trees was their private spa......they were really enjoying it. I finally found a few Monarch butterfly larvae on one of the milkweed plants. We still haven't had the number of butterflies that we normally do. Also, I noticed a tremendous amount of seed pods on the asclepias tuberosa. The entire top is just full of pods. I wonder if they ever self-seed? Checked out Lowes this week, but they had very few sales on anything in the garden department. I need a few evergreens for around the foundation at the back door. Glad to hear you are ok Yolanda. We keep watching the news and are just astounded by everything. I just want to see someone get some food and water to those folks on the highway by the SuperDome! Where are the FEMA people? They need someone to monitor the news to find some of these pockets of desperation. The women with tiny babies just really break my heart. Let's hope millions is raised by all the upcoming concerts and drives. gld