Different insect friendly weed control methods

[Leezy2]

So I�ve merrily used systemic weed killer for years, and am now sufficiently grown up and guilt ridden enough to know the error of my ways. But weeds, argh!
I�m in France and they grow as you look at them. So, different eco-friendly methods for this please. So far I have tried:
Cover the lot with suppressant of some sort, including mulch;
Burn them, especially the ones around the path edge;
Obviously dig them up by hand.
I�m three years in to my garden now and it looks transformed from when I started, but I�m at the stage now where weeding is the full time job and I�ve no time to do cultivating bit.

What have you got that works folks?

[veggiechicken]

Hoe them off whenever I spot them.
Cut off the flowers before they can seed.

[Scarlet]

Lay down newspapers, damp them down with water and cover with grass clippings.

Plant heavily.

[nickdub]

My rule of thumb with weeding is that if I can't see the plants any more its time to take action - which usually involves a combination of hacking and hewing (Like Pete, I didn't have the Latin for the judging)

[MyWifesBrassicas]

I'm in the extensive process of attempting to eliminate horsetails, or at least curb it a little
This prehistoric perennial is a stayer and for good reason, its so adapted at surviving.
However, i don't think i'll eliminate this, so my intention is to reduce it's vigor to a manageable state.
So my theory on this rascal is to pull it the moment i see it rather than dig it out and this is based on if there's no/little top growth, then there's no/little photosynthesising going, thus reducing it's vigor.
If it can't photosynthesis, then it can't produce roots. So every time i pull it out, it has to use energy to regrow new shoots, thus becoming weaker.
However, this can only work if i constantly pull the blighter as it regrows to progressively weaken it, that's the theory. If anythings going to go wrong, it'll be my laziness

[Leezy2]

I’ve tried all these. My grass clippings turned out to make the situation even worse - there was bindweed growing through the lawn and I’d just spread it to a new place, about a thousand time over ��

[MyWifesBrassicas]

When i first obtained my allotment, I was eager to grow in it's first year and it rotovated the entire plot. This cut up all the horsetail roots, enabling each one to regrow.
I was able to grow a reasonable crop that year, but not without i'ts consequences, a decade of horsetail attack since.
I can still grow with the horsetail there and i dont think it causes too much of an issue, it robs some of my hard earned compost nutrition and i pull it and turn it into fertiliser to claim it back

[Jay-ell]

I'm getting the weeds in the bed under control now, The weeds in the path, however, are a different matter and sometimes obscure the beds

I have a finite amount of mulch materials which I focus on the beds (also when mulching the paths with grass clippings I realised that they get very slippy and aren't safe to walk on). I'll mulch the paths with cardboard and newspaper when I get enough (free papers on the way to work gradually build up).

The beds get a good mulch of grass clippings - they haven't brought in weeds that I don't already have (weeds are not like Pokemon - you don't have to have them all).

[SarrissUK]

I am trying out no dig in order to achieve two things...
1. Not have to do all the back breaking work of digging two plots over.
2. Significantly reduce the time spent weeding

I have so far got one plot that had carpets all over it, literally, with soil on top of the carpet. This one is needing quite a lot of weeding, as I re-used the weedy soil. I have a potato patch that is probably four meters by three and it took me an hour and a half to weed it today.

The other plot was just grass with some weeds dotted in it. I have made a bed that is about two meters wide, covering the whole length of the plot, so nearly 90 foot long. Some grass is coming through, now two months after starting to cover the grass with cardboard, then well rotted horse manure (that has some couch grass and bindweed in it). Today was the first time that I touched that bed since covering it and spent ten minutes pulling weeds and adding more manure on top of it where it was a bit too thin.

So, for me no dig is definitely working!

[Nicos]

You can use the summer heat to dry the top surface and make it difficult for seedlings to break through.
I find regular hoeing actually encourages dormant weed seeds to germinate.
I find regular watering and hoeing in the peak of summer actually encourages the darned things to grow.
The hard pan surface can actually be your friend.... use it!!

[fishpond]

Hoeing + no dig makes life easier as I get older.
Dont know why I didn't do it years ago.