What should I be doing now to control weeds in my garden?

Once the soils warm up in June and after your gardens are hand weeded, or cultivated/hoed, that is the time to apply a summer mulch. Summer mulch (not to be confused with a winter mulch of hay/leaves that keeps plants dormant if there is no snow cover) retains moisture, suppresses weeds, looks nice & can improve soil quality. One year mulches (coco bean, rice hulls, compost) should be applied every season. They can then be turned into the soils that fall or the next spring to improve the soil structure. Wood chip mulch needs only be applied every couple of years otherwise plants can be buried too deeply & “volcano mounds” around trees invite stem girdling roots which can spell demise to a tree.