Question
I have a few mulch beds that were put in last year.  Now that spring has come around, a large amount of weeds have begun to come up.  What should I do to get rid of this problem?  Will I need to replace the mulch, turn it over conistently, or what?

Answer
Josh,

Sad but true.  No matter what mulch you use it will get weeds growing in it sooner or later.

Yes, turning the mulch over will help...disrupting the roots of new weed plants.  It can also cause some weeds to start growing by exposing them to light (6 of one, half dozen of the other).  

If the beds aren't too big, just pull them out.  I hand weed a lot of beds.  Just get them before they go to seed and make matters worse.  Some weeds that are especially pernicious, for me that's thistles, I'll spot spray with weed killer to get the root.

Once you get the current weeds out, you can put down some granular weed preventer (pre-emergent herbicide) like Preen or Casoron.  Those products buy you some time, but they also can keep interesting volunteers from growing, and can reduce the spread of good plants.  I don't use those in areas I know will be visited by kids.

For kid friendly beds, I hand weed or spray weeds with vinegar on a sunny day.

For what it's worth,
Mark in Portland