Help with weeds...

Last spring da hubby built several raised beds and ordered some pulverized top soil and compost to fill them with.

Either the soil or the compost was LOADED with weed seeds. I couldn't keep up. It was out-of-control ridiculous. I'd get out there and weed and two weeks later it looked like I'd sown a cover crop it was that bad.

I don't want to use chemical weed killers since I want to grow fruits and veggies for the family. Any suggestions as to actions I can take to kill the weeds or keep them reappearing in the spring?

Layers of newspaper covered with straw? Cover areas with a tarp all winter? I'm open to any and all suggestions.

Black plastic is good - it heats up the soil and fools the weed seeds into sprouting early, before you want to plant.

a natural pre emergent to be put on ONLY before the seeds sprout is corn gluten meal........I do the newspaper thing too between rows and around plants, flattened cardboard on the walk areas between rows....wal-mart is generous when they are re stocking the grocery dept. ..My area is cursed with burmuda grass which also has runners (stolens) that go underground and pop up where you dont want it, roots must be 20 ft deep, very hard to pull up. and then there are greenbriar and sting nettles. I live and grow in a wild wooded area not in the cities......I grow bearded iris which can't be mulched....I have heard 20% volume vinegar is a weed killer, but I haven't had much luck with it.....

meant to include that if corn gluten is put on after the seeds have germinated it is an excellent fertilizer, causing tremendous growth spurts!!!!!!

Thanks for the suggestions folks. I think I'll try the black plastic/cardboard in late winter. Any suggestions as to when I should put it down in the Chicago Area?

No later than February, some day when the ground is frozen hard and not muddy.

I thought you were supposed to do cardboard when the ground wasn't frozen. I've read that if you put it on frozen ground, it will take longer to unfreeze. I usually only put cardboard on in the fall, though, because then it decomposes during the winter and you can easily dig a hole in it in spring but still keep the weeds down.

Oh, I was thinking of the plastic.

The black plastic unfreezes the ground and the seeds sprout and die. Then you roll up the plastic when ready to plant. I've never done cardboard.

With the plastic method, I try to do all the bed prep the autumn before. Then I use the black or clear plastic to pre-sprout the weeds as mentioned - then I try not to disturb the soil at all (except the tiny bit required to plant seeds). I try not to cultivate at all around the plants during the growing season - just mulch thickly. I used shredded paper last year and it worked real well at smothering weeds and/or making them easy to pluck out.

Good luck in the never ending battle against Evil... oh, wait, I meant good luck against the never ending battle against weeds!