First thing I learned when I got here was how important the soil is to the garden. Take your time and prepare the soil correctly you'll be rewarded by the garden & lawn that you get!!!! Wish I had known that.
For your
flower beds, do the raised beds they look great and the fertilizing raising process kills the
weeds for you and it is ready to
plant in 6 weeks. Which if you use starter
plants this year rather than
seeds still gives you plenty of blooms up until frost. There is a vinegar, salt, dishsoap weedkiller recipe that works but I've been cautioned not to use it for widespread
weeds because the salt could cause the soil not to support any
plants at all. Depending on the amount of
weeds in your lawn maybe one of those
weed and
seed products? Well I'll leave that for someone who knows more than I do. The site is closing at 8:00 p.m. tonight but it will be comming back better than ever so be patient and don't be too anxious to
plant. Amending soil after something is planted is a lot harder than doing it before. Even if it means you have to wait.