I weed and hoe the cultivated areas. Between the fruit bushes I use cardboard and a thick layer of leaves.

what mulch are you using.. how deep ...

what kind of weeds???

many weed seeds need to be in contact with the soil.. and have sun on them.. to sprout ... so a think layer of mulch hinders both.. and reduces weed germination ...

ken

I probably put about 2-3 inches of mulch, I will add pics of the ones that I find myself fighting all the time... this area also gets full sun. I use wood mulch, the fine stuff from the nursery ( I get it by yards).

Top is Glechoma hederaceae. Middle is an assortment including Oxalis, Dandelions, Plantain and Veronica. Bottom is Dandelion. Right now go out and remove the dandelion flowers and seed heads. Then set about digging the roots out. Mulching won't stop any of these for long. You need to dig them out before you mulch. Don't just pull, get right under them with a trowel or fork and get the whole root.

In the veggie garden I use a scuffle hoe. In perennial and shrub beds I use a combination of cardboard or newspaper and a deep layer of mulch, 4-6 inches when spread, though it settles some. It is looser than soil and so makes new weeds much easier to remove. I edge the shrub beds to prevent grass and weeds from growing in from surrounding lawn areas and check that weeds haven't grown over the edging about once a month. I weed regularly, but never for long and learn the life cycles of my weeds so that I can get rid of them before they bloom and seed. So dandelions are the earliest spring and are removed by a long skinny-bladed weeder that is designed to remove deep tap roots. I look for the flowers and spend perhaps 1/2 hour 2-3 times a week to remove them before they seed. The flowers go in the trash since the seeds continue to develop, but the plants get spread out to dry on the fencing around the compost pile and then join the compost.

The Glechoma/creeping Charlie and Oxalis/wood sorrel are also easiest to spot when blooming. Glechoma blooms late spring here, and I try to trace the vines and pull at each root node so I get as much as possible of the long vines that wind around other plants. I find Oxalis blooms on and off all summer, and so I patrol about once a week all summer and pull what I find. Once you get to the point that you are preventing seeding, the amount of work will reduce amazingly over a couple of years.

In other words -- constant vigilance followed by constant anti-weed actions.

Pine bark nuggets and a bit of hand pulling. If an area is too bad, I will pull any big ones then throw some extra mulch/soil over them. This works well for me with dandelions, clover, crabgrass, and sourgrass.