Ok.my OP is ..use a good Hula Hoe. They go so fast through the shallow rooted weeds,the Oxalis top growth. Especially this time of year. The soil is so soft from rains- plus your wood chips help- it can cut them down without the mess and better then a weed eater. You would be surprised how fast you can make a pile of fresh cut weeds.

I see you have nothing shrubby either to slow the hoe or make it hard to maneuver. As the rains die down,and warm dry weather takes over..the Hula Hoe needs goes down to near nothing. Easy to keep on top of that.

Right now the problem is at its worst!..We ALL agree.

You need to identify what the weeds are and then research the best way to remove them. Often a herbicide (like glyphosate) will be the most efficient method for herbaceous weeds but sometimes more powerful stuff is necessary for woody based weeds. And there is also burning (using a weed torch) and smothering with layers of cardboard and a thick layer of mulch.

Often even after the initial removal and the resulting disturbance of the soil, you will get additional weeds from seeds that were laying dormant. You have to be persistent and patient :-)

Hate to tell you this but to some degree you are just going to have to accept them. That oxalis is not really a weed but a natural part of that climate. Once these little plants have established themselves in the soil, they're not going to go away, or not at all easily. Their little seeds and root bits are already intermixed into the soil. You might consider plastic covering over the soil, with only those plants you want poking through. You can cover this by a layer of woodchips.

The other option would require continual maintenance and vigilance, something you may not be willing to do. Or you could hire a child in the neighborhood to pull all the weeds every week.

You can't just have bare exposed dirt where you live and not expect anything wild to start growing in it.

Well,that's Bermuda Oxalis- not a native plant. I'm not sure you can ever rid your yard with passive weeding. But they can die out over time if you continually weed top growth. It all depends on if your a perfectionist. If you constantly weed on a schedule...you'll win.

Me? Not a perfectionist. Weed hard now..and in summer they go dormant (Oxalis) and others get the hoe. Cracks in cement get Roundup. I hear Vinegar (miraculous!) will kill weeds. I have to try it-lol.

Oxalis pes-caprae is native to South Africa so Idon't know why anyone would consider it a "natural part of that climate" in CA. It does not spread by seeds. The tap root and lateral runners produce bulblets, that survive from one season to the next; they are sometimes spread by animals. Extremely difficult to eradicate. I've known homeowners that spent a decade of repeatedly digging up the bulblets, and sifting the soil through a fine sieve, to gain control. Some of bulblets are very small. When house shopping, I actually nixed some possibilities because of this plant.

I was a slow & distracted typer. ;) Never heard it called Bermuda Oxalis before. Usually there is a hefty list of curse words prior to the oxalis part though.

Personally, I'd just keep spraying the new growth with RoundUp... or it's like. At least RoundUp doesn't stay active in the soil so when you do plant grass it won't be harmed.

Hi Dave. I had a similar problem 3 years ago when we inherited a house that was overgrown. But ours was about an acre! I try my best not to use herbicides or pesticides, so what we did was solarize and then sheet mulch. It's a slow process that takes time, but not a lot of effort. Worked like a charm.

You can google a lot about how to do soil solarization, but here's a link to get you started... http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74145.html

I did it in the summer, so it took about 2 months. Now, it would take longer since it's cooler.

After that I did a sheet mulch with cardboard (I actually used rolls of ramboard) then bark mulch on top. Worked great!

How much mulch is a lot of mulch to you? You said you put a lot of mulch down. Anything less than 3 inches has been shown to make matters worse wrt weeds. You need a constant 6 inches or more.

i would lighten the weed load by performing a couple grow/kill cycles with glyphosate and then add more mulch to make sure it's at least 6 inches deep. Then just mow anything that comes up before it can set seed to exhaust them.

The black plastic that Kittymoonbeam is talking about is basically what I'm talking about when I say "solarize."

It's pretty simple. Put down black plastic (or clear -- but I used black because it got hotter). Leave it for about 2 months (longer when it's cooler, like now). When you bring it up, everything basically cooked or "solarized."

After that, I put down cardboard (I used rolls of ramboard, but any cardboard will do). And on top of that I put down about 4-6 inches of bark mulch.

Then just wait. I probably waited about 6 months-1 year. No digging or planting in the area during that time. Just let the cardboard and mulch do it's thing.

The solarized weeds, cardboard and mulch all break down into amazing soil. At that point, digging is so much easier and no more weeds!

No weeds and the soil is awesome after that.

I do personally reapply about 4-6 inches of mulch ear year, since it breaks down. But it just keeps making the soil better and better and I hardly ever get any weeds anymore.

No spraying, no chemicals, no digging, no tilling. All it takes is a little effort and time. I got rid of a whole, huge "lawn" of awful weeds this way. It's been 3 years and the soil is just amazing now. I highly recommend it.

solarization also kills everything in the top couple of inches of soil and it's won't kill that oxalis as the bulbs are deeper than solarizatiin can effect. Solarization is only recommended if you have some terrible pathogen problem not weeds. It is far more damaging to the soil biome than glyphosate.

Sheet mulching is also not recommended because it screws up oxygen and water exchange in the soil. Deep mulching has been shown to be superior to sheet mulching and better for the soil.

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And yet it worked so well for me.... ;)

we are worried that the weeds will just poke through the grass

Regular close mowing will kill them off. Also grass kept healthy, vigorous and dense excludes most weeds on its own. Weedy lawns are ones that don't have good enough conditions for the grass to dominate.

I was thinking cardboard or plastic because he's feeling so frustrated right now and wants to see a clean space. I agree, for the best soil, 6+ inches of mulch and pull anything trying to get through. The patience way pays off the best with amazing soil. Some people are anxious to plant though. A Bermuda strip we reworked was just mulch chips for 2 years. That soil was beautiful and grew veggies with no problems. We did the cardboard method at a neighbors rental where the previous tenants let the grass die and turn to weeds and dog waste. It looked good and didn't take too long.

I've used vinegar in random small spots, especially weeds that pop up in cracks in the cement. It does work, but some weeds are a bit resistant. It seems to work on grasses and on that purplish, flat weed. It doesn't take much. Not sure if it would be good to use in a large area.

I like the hula hoe too. I am obsessive about weeds and pull even the smallest ones asap.

Vinegar just burns the tops of the plant. Therefore it will only kill young plants. The 5% barely works. The 20% horticultural vinegar is probably too dangerous for homeowners to use. It will kill frogs and toads very quickly if accidentally doused.

Ditto Nil13 ""Vinegars with concentrations of 11% or greater can burn the skin and cause severe eye injury, including blindness. Severe skin irritation and possible allergic sensitization. Severe eye irritation, burns, and possible irreversible damage potential".

https://extension.umd.edu/sites/default/files/_docs/programs/ipmnet/Vinegar-AnAlternativeToGlyphosate-UMD-Smith-Fiola-and-Gill.pdf (household vinegar is 5%). I'd go with solarization, then cardboard with mulch on top. UC _ Solarization instruction sheet http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74145.html

Please don't solarize. It's like the nuclear option for weed control. Oh but it's chemical free so it's ok that you just wiped out all the mycorrhizal fungi, fried a good bunch of feeder roots of your trees, and killed off anything not fast enough to escape the heat. If you aren't trying to control some severe disease or pest infestation their is no need to nuke your landscape.

http://gardenprofessors.com/tag/mycorrhiza/

I'm not trying to dismiss your concerns about mycorrhizal fungi Nil13, but from what I understand the current research shows mychorrhizal fungi recolonize very quickly afterwards.

I know you were just trying to get your point across, but heat is different from nuclear energy. Just saying.

It really did work great for me "Dave's Plumbing." Things die in the soil with solarization. Nil13 is right. But everything that dies in the soil gives your soil nutrients that will end up helping your plants later.

To each his own. But it really did work great for me.

Nil13 is totally right about tree roots too... so if you have a beloved tree you probably wouldn't want to solarize near it. But in the photos I didn't see any beloved trees.... ;)

Solarization can definitely be effective. The problem isn't that it's effective but that it's too effective. It pasteurizes the soil. While you will greatly and effectively reduce the weed seed load in the top 4 inches of soil which is what absolutely needs to happen, at what cost? Every benefical insect egg gets destroyed too. Worm capsules are destroyed. I don't get it. I mean I've done it in vegetable beds to reduce nematode loads, (Mulch and oyster mushrooms are much better) but it's brutal. You have to remember that those UC-IPM sheets are predominantly based on agriculture practices and were last updated almost a decade ago.

I just don't get it. People get crazy about glyphosate because of possible side effects to fungi and micro-organisms but they are fine with pasteurizing the top 4" of soil. At least the glyphosate doesn't kill beneficial insect eggs. It leaves the vast majority of the fungal networks intact.

Or a weed torch, they work great. Just go out there and burn the baby weeds as soon as they sprout. You can easily reduce a weed seed load by just burning the seedlings down. The heat doesn't penetrate very deeply so you don't disturb the soil biome that much.

Hula hoes work as well, but large areas become very difficult to manage with out moving to tillage and that is right out.

A few good grow/kill cycles will drastically reduce the weed seed load on any property. After that 6-12" of shredded wood mulch or arborist mulch well make sure your surface has a low weed seed level.Then just make sure anything new doesn't go to seed. You can do that with a strimmer.

The oxalis will require exhaustion through whatever mowing means chosen (chemical, mechanical, or heat).

Just my two cents on Oxalis pes caprae. The starvation methods are a lot easier if you forego planting in the affected ground, otherwise you are weeding around plants which is a big pain. Planting a lawn over oxalis is just going to be a big fail unless you don't mind it during the winter.

If you want to use/plant the oxalis soil area - use it for summer growing only (veggie garden) and exclude/mulch it from September->April each winter until the oxalis is gone after 2 seasons. One winter I covered the area with cloth/mulch and then put a lot of pots there instead of in the ground.

Persistent weeding works - you need to do it all once each month; but will take 3 years for complete control in my experience and there are always stragglers hiding under shrubs etc.

On soil solarization - many of the flora just move down in the soil when they feel the heat - they do this naturally each summer in response the heat and dry. The soil temperatures are only high enough to kill in the top 4-6 inches of soil

I know we all hate to use herbicides but Oxalis is almost impossible to get rid of without it. I bought a house in Morro Bay many moons ago that had Oxalis in the ice plant that comprised a large area near the street. I tried pulling, I tried salt. I finally decided I would kill everything and replant. That was the best decision I could have come up with. I live elsewhere now, and I managed to bring the Oxalis with me.

One method that works for me is cover the soil with plain cardboard. Then put the mulch on a few inches thick. It smothers the weeds, encourages worms and last a couple of years.

what I meant by plastic was use plastic under the mulch until you can get to those areas. It wont get hot under the mulch and keeps things from growing while you work on a small section at a time. If you dont use the plastic, you need a thicker layer of mulch. I prefer that but it costs more and you have to keep adding it as it breaks down. If you can afford it, its your best choice or use pavers. Another idea to save money is gather up leaves from all over for free and then top that with purchased mulch. The worms will turn it to something wonderful.

I too bought the old untended house on an acre full of thick weeds, in SoCal. All of the advice you are getting is right, you'll probably want a mix of tactics.

Our weed load includes some Oxalis which seems hard to eradicate, and numerous mustards and other weeds, but mostly Stinging Nettle, which seems to spread both under and above ground. Right now we have a Nettle bonanza with all the rain, many areas came back much more so than past few years. I've put cardboard down for paths through it until it grows enough to be easier to remove, and will mulch over the cardboard when I have a chance.

We have tried many things and ended up solarizing some areas with black plastic, which worked pretty well to help diminish the amazing density we inherited. That was in my raised bed garden where I now use old carpet scraps to manage paths and work areas without weeds/nettle (carpet lets the water through but is tidier and less work than mulch in those areas) but 6+ years post-solarization the nettle comes back thick and lush so I don't think the solarization did lasting damage. For areas where we had large amounts of mustard weeds, a few years of pulling them out before they could set seed has diminished it considerably.

Now the annual mostly-nettle weed work is a mix of tactics - putting cardboard or wood down during spring growing season, pulling plants ideally when they are 15" high and the ground is still soft so they pull right out, some areas get hit with a scuffle (hula) hoe, and then least favorite, weed whacking some of it when the scuffle hoe exhausts us. It helps to sharpen the scuffle hoe once in a while.

Nettle infestation is an especially lovely weed experience, no walking around parts of the yard wearing shorts or flip flops or clogs without socks, and to pull it have to use the long rose gloves over canvas shirt sleeves. And I still get burned. And the dog always has an itchy nose. We do sometimes have nettle greens with dinner, but it's a hassle and in my opinion not very flavorful.

Welcome to home ownership, Plumber Dave.

Step One: The soil is full of weed seeds. Others may blow in on the wind or be dropped by birds.

Step Two: It rains. Some of the weed seeds sprout.

Step Three: those weeds set seed and drop them into the soil.

Now you are back to Step One.

What you have to do is interrupt the cycle.

Hoe the weeds up BEFORE they set seed. Then water, and more seeds waiting in the soil will sprout. Hoe those BEFORE they set seed. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Until you are not getting many weeds. Congratulations. Your soil is now mostly free of weeds. Now you can plant, and mulch, and pull the far less weed population BEFORE those weeds set seed. After a few years you get less and less and less.

Yes it is some work, and it is not instant, but you don't need to pay for a gym membership.

You can't stop weeds from getting into your yard, period. Why? Many weed seeds are wind-borne and will end up on top of your soil no matter what you do. The best you can do is minimize it by

1) killing the existing weeds with RoundUp, and

2) mulching any unplanted areas.

You will still get weeds due to windblown seeds, but not as many, and a good layer of mulch will make them easier to pull. Don't waste your money on "weed barrier" fabric.

Weed barrier fabric looks great but I agree does not work and then you are stuck with the ugly, non functioning deteriorating pieces in your soil. Free cardboard is the way to go.

Dog, my friend used carpet paths. That was great. It was fun to walk on that carpet for a summer. Eventually it gets yucky. I think his dog loved it while it was around.

Weed barrier is a scam IMO. It's not even a barrier to weeds! On top of that you get all these negative side effects - it eventually pops out of the ground and looks bad, it's slows down water absorption (especially on slopes) it can interfere with the roots of new plants. I just don't get why people still bother with it.