Question
I am from Lawrenceburg TN.  I was just wondering what everybody uses to prevent weeds in flower beds.  I know some people put down cloth but isnt there an easier way.  Especially if you are planting flowers.  Also,  What is the best thing to prepare the soil before planting.  Any things i should add like manure, peat moss, etc.  If so how much before planting.  thanks for your help

Answer
Hi Josh,

[1]
>>"...what everybody uses to prevent weeds in flower beds..?"

Elbow-grease is still the standard remedy for weeds in flower-beds as far as I know.

The weed-barrier system is great in gardens that utilize certain types of island plantings, small shrubs and bushes,... but when you want more variety and have your plants spread as ground-cover and fill-in areas naturally or propagate by seed-drop,... the weed-barrier is obstructive. Because of the great advantage of weed-barrier to reduce weeding efforts where practical, you can sometimes mix bare-earth ares with weed-barrier protected regions to have a compromise, especially with very large areas.

Weedy grassy or any weed that spreads by rhizomes or sub-terranean methods can be particularly troublesome in gardens.  If you have weedy Bermuda or similar weeds, you may want to make being rid of these a priority before they get to wide-spread. Installing adequate border constructions  are preventive of weeds that spread by 'runners'.

So, the best defense in fighting weeds in the garden and non-lawn areas is generally a strategy to....

(a)
keep weed-SEEDS from ending up in the gardens by wind dispersal.  This means having less weeds in the lawn and other peripheral areas like cracks in walks, roads and drive-ways.  It means keeping the weeds cut-back so they do not ever get at chance to go to seed.  Unfortunately if your neighbors are not as concerned about these goals, their seed producing weeds will spread to your lawns and gardens. If you can keep one weed from going to seed, you can sometimes prevent hundreds or even thousands of new weeds in an area.

(b) Using DENSE plantings in your gardens will also help to prevent weeds.

(c) Using MULCHES is the classic weed-preventive way to reduce weeds in flower-beds.
    Lawn and garden centers will usually offer several types of mulches to try.
   
(d) Regularly Patrol and monitor your gardens and manual weed them frequently to attain goals (a) and (b) and (c) above to get ahead of the weeds, and in time your weeding efforts will be greatly reduced in time requirements.  You can also hire labor help in the growing season for a few bucks and help a kid pay for college.

(e) There are the regular weed-killing and preventive 'pre-and-post emergent' herbicide chemicals you can use in the flower beds.  However you risk damaging your valued plants by such use, so do so with special care. In theory you should have no problem with a pre-emergent herbicide which you should only consider if you do not use flower seeds.  These types of chemicals are preventive of weeds and work to keep seeds (including wanted flower seeds) from sprouting.  In some states, you have to have applicator certification to buy and use bulk quantities of pre-emergent chemicals that are not mixed with fertilizer chemicals like 'Weed-and-feed' products sold for lawns but also used in flower beds.

[2]
>>"...What is the best thing to prepare the soil?"

Soils can be sick or healthy and all descriptions in between
if there are any questions that your top-soil and root-zone is considerably less than optimum,.... you may want to make efforts to improve things.  Here's more about it:

A Laboratory SOIL TEST may well define your top soil's chemistry and physics and prevent future problems by diagnosing them early. A good top-soil should be sufficiently "loamy" with good tilth-drainage and fertility factors and also proper acidity (pH).  A  expense for a soil test may save you time, work and money later on.  Some garden centers sell home testing kits.  (more about test-kits below)

Soil test Kits:
Most lawn and garden centers today will sell test-kits for SOIL TESTING basics and these are easy to use.  IF you have had a history of problems with keeping healthy plants and turf-grasses, you may want to test the soil. Usually there are a few minerals that would help.  In some cases you may want to have a Laboratory test done.  However, if your top-soil chemistry is so compromised that you have to continually monitor certain soil parameters other than soil pH, you would be well advised to consider alternative plants and landscaping scenarios as opposed to turning your soil into an on-going chemistry experiment.  Try to let Nature take care of things.

IMPROVE SOIL by top dressing and/or working in  SOIL AMENDMENTS: high quality top soils (from your local suppliers), compost (commercial or home made), humus-organic matter/manures/peat-moss, and sand or Kaolin/clay (if there are drainage problems). You can do this to bare lawn areas easily.  Where lawn areas continually seem to suffer from poor soil quality, partial or total renovation may be in order. Roto-tilling amendments into the existing top soil is an excellent way to prep an area for seeding grasses. The old grass may need to be eradicated before re-seeding or "up-grading" to a more care-free hybrid.

Learn About COMPOST...aka "GARDNER'S GOLD".
Using commercial or home-made compost is a great way to insure your soil is CONSTANTLY IMPROVING over the years.
Composting and adding organic humus will help the soil become more "sponge-like" so it can hold water better and need less water applied to it. Your lawn will be better able to survive droughts/stress with regular additions of compost to the mid-summer "Hot-Spots."

COMPOSTING can return nutrients and minerals to your lawn and save you money while improving the root-zone...don't trash your grass and herbaceous debris, RECYCLE it by composting!
Website: http://hometown.aol.com/eilatlog/fert/fertilex.html
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ROTO-TILLING the above top-soil AMENDMENTS into the existing top soil will help to mix everything to a uniform consistency for a balanced soil chemistry and physics.  This will also under-till and suffocate/bury many dormant weed seeds and weedy nodal rhizomes which would otherwise become weedy pests later.  You can rent roto-tilling machines or hire for the service and pay by the area or hour.  This is another great preparation procedure and one that helps to prevent future problems and may be well worth the extra effort and cost.
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Tip:
If, after working to improve the existing top soil, you can get your top soil and root zone so structured to be healthy enough to support several pounds of mail-ordered earthworms,...these will work 24/7 and multiply exponentially to  help keep your soil fertile, aerated and ecologically well balanced.
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SOIL Fertility and Testing Web-sites:

Fertilizers, Test kits, and Amendments:

About Amendments for soils:
http://dmoz.org/Home/Gardens/Soil_and_Additives/Fertilizers/

Some Tips for general Lawn Care:
http://ag.arizona.edu/gardening/lawns.html


How to test your own soil's pH"
http://www.eutechinst.com/techtips/tech-tips5.htm

Sampling Soil for sending to a lab:
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1132.html

Adjusting Soil pH in Gardens:
http://www.thegardenhelper.com/
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Some recommended websites:

To help you decide what plants to use and where to place them check-out the "PLANT SELECTOR" applet:
 http://www.growit.com/Bin/PSelect.exehttp://www.growit.com/Bin/PSelect.exe

 For Seasonal Lawn-care tips: http://www.agry.purdue.edu/turf/tips/index.html

 Know Your HORTICULTURAL HARDINESS ZONE:
   Use grasses and plants rated for your location and hort-zone.

 Hort-Zones from ZIP CODES:
   http://www.arborday.org/trees/whatzone.html

 Shop for Lawn and Garden Items via the WEB:
 A List of LAWN & GARDENING CATALOGUES:
http://www.qnet.com/~johnsonj/webonly.htm

 Images of lawn and garden plants:  http://hortiplex.gardenweb.com/plants/
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Go to GOOGLE.COM and enter the
Keywords: "YOUR/USA/STATE/NAME Horticulture;"  this search engine may direct you to many excellent lawn/garden websites for your precise locale.

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I Hope this has answered your question(s)!

Visit my Lawn & Gardens webpage for more Tips, Facts and Links:
http://hometown.aol.com/eilatlog/lawnol.html

Your Questions and Comments are welcome at ALLEXPERTS.com