Question
I have been landscaping the same area several times.  Every time I think "there is no way that weeds are going to be able to grow in that (or through that)".  But...they always do and I end up trying something else.  What am I doing wrong?  Do I need to get all the way down to hard clay and then cover it with concrete or something?  Please help me.  Thanks.

Ryan

Answer
Hey, Ryan.

You're not the first person to be frustrated by weeds. "Weed" is my four-letter word.

The best way I've found to fight weeds is:
1 - pull all the weeds by the roots
2 - till the soil
3 - till the soil again but with some Round-up and/or pre-emergent weed killer in it.
4 - smooth the soil out and spray with some liquid Round-up.
5 - cover the soil with some weed cloth.
6 - wait a couple of weeks (see the manufacturer's instructions for all of the chemicals you use) before planting anything.
7 - plant what you want by cutting holes in the weed cloth.
8 - once you have all the plants in the ground, cover the weed cloth with at least two inches of the finest mulch you can find. I use Earthgrow, but it doesn't matter as long as you get the finest. Half-inch is too large.
9 - once you have the fine mulch down, you can cover it with another layer of weed cloth and then put in a layer of larger mulch or gravel/rocks.

Now that's the absolute best way that I've found. You can skip a step here or there, like 3, 4, or 9, depending on what you're trying to do, but you'll fight weeds a little more often. When weeds do show up, though, there will be far fewer of them and they will be easier to pull out of the mulch.

My wise old grandmother taught me that and I've had great success in every state where I've done landscaping, north (Michigan) east (Pennsylvania), southeast (Florida), south (Texas & Louisiana), southwest (New Mexico & Arizona), and west (California).

Good luck. Follow up with me if you need to.