Here are some things I've done to fight the weed war. Some are long term propositions, some are shorter term.
You said you had lots of leaves. Me too, mostly oak (acidic-ish). I have a large area, probably 30x30, like yours. It has about 4-5 inches of leaves on it now. They'll pack down over the winter. Not many weeds sprout through that. It's going to be a squash bed, the vines will go wherever they want, over the leaves. Next spring, I'll rake bare a few 3x3 patches where the squash hills will go about 2-3 weeks before time to plant so that the soil can warm up, and amend that soil as needed with compost. I leave the rest of the leaf mat where it is. I have VERY few weeds in my squash bed.
If you have a few weeks or a season to spare, planting buckwheat works well too. Plant it very thickly, and chop it down just as it flowers, in about 6 weeks. The idea is that the buckwheat sprouts and grows quickly and shades out the weeds. They sprout, but don't get very tall. When you chop everything down, you get the sprouted weeds too. If you can spend a whole season growing a few courses of buckwheat (I got three one year), pretty much all the weed seeds have sprouted and been cut. You can either let the cut buckwheat dry for a week or two and till it in, or rake it up and put it in the compost. It is NOT at all frost tolerant, though, so if you get an untimely frost, it's toast. It's not much of a nitrogen fixer, either.
For over winter, winter rye did a good job for me. It does fix nitrogen, and planted in the fall (too late now, I think), it over winters and resumes growing in the spring. It took two tillings to totally turn it under and kill it. Tough stuff.
One thing that did NOT work for me was weed block fabric. Grrrr. Maybe on smaller areas it would be good. Mine ripped up, blew around, got holes, made a mess.
I have also used large sheets of cardboard or several sheets of newspaper in my garden. I usually weigh it down with leaves or grass clippings. Once it gets rained on, it sticks down better too. But I've gotten the stink eye from my husband if it lifts and blows around.
One year I didn't do any of this. I spent about 3 hours once a week with a hoe, chopping the weeds off at the surface. They kept coming back, but the garden plants got ahead of them and did well.
There are a few weeds that I let grow because they are edible and delicious. My favorite is Lamb's Quarter. Purslane is good too, and it grows into a ground hugging mat. I let a lot of that go and find that it shades the soil and helps keep it moist.
Good luck!
You said you had lots of leaves. Me too, mostly oak (acidic-ish). I have a large area, probably 30x30, like yours. It has about 4-5 inches of leaves on it now. They'll pack down over the winter. Not many weeds sprout through that. It's going to be a squash bed, the vines will go wherever they want, over the leaves. Next spring, I'll rake bare a few 3x3 patches where the squash hills will go about 2-3 weeks before time to plant so that the soil can warm up, and amend that soil as needed with compost. I leave the rest of the leaf mat where it is. I have VERY few weeds in my squash bed.
If you have a few weeks or a season to spare, planting buckwheat works well too. Plant it very thickly, and chop it down just as it flowers, in about 6 weeks. The idea is that the buckwheat sprouts and grows quickly and shades out the weeds. They sprout, but don't get very tall. When you chop everything down, you get the sprouted weeds too. If you can spend a whole season growing a few courses of buckwheat (I got three one year), pretty much all the weed seeds have sprouted and been cut. You can either let the cut buckwheat dry for a week or two and till it in, or rake it up and put it in the compost. It is NOT at all frost tolerant, though, so if you get an untimely frost, it's toast. It's not much of a nitrogen fixer, either.
For over winter, winter rye did a good job for me. It does fix nitrogen, and planted in the fall (too late now, I think), it over winters and resumes growing in the spring. It took two tillings to totally turn it under and kill it. Tough stuff.
One thing that did NOT work for me was weed block fabric. Grrrr. Maybe on smaller areas it would be good. Mine ripped up, blew around, got holes, made a mess.
I have also used large sheets of cardboard or several sheets of newspaper in my garden. I usually weigh it down with leaves or grass clippings. Once it gets rained on, it sticks down better too. But I've gotten the stink eye from my husband if it lifts and blows around.
One year I didn't do any of this. I spent about 3 hours once a week with a hoe, chopping the weeds off at the surface. They kept coming back, but the garden plants got ahead of them and did well.
There are a few weeds that I let grow because they are edible and delicious. My favorite is Lamb's Quarter. Purslane is good too, and it grows into a ground hugging mat. I let a lot of that go and find that it shades the soil and helps keep it moist.
Good luck!
