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These weeds are about 4 feet high. I can either weed whack them now (late September), or wait until early spring. Will I have a much easier time cutting them back in spring? I'd prefer to do it now, but if it saves a lot of effort, I'll wait 6 months. After cutting them back, I intend to cover with landscape fabric, and mulch. My aim is to stop the weeds coming back and plant some bushes. This is near Philadelphia, PA. tall ugly weeds

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    One person's weed pit is another person's wildflower meadow. I don't actually see any weeds here. I doubt that the landscape fabric will be effective against goldenrod, milkweed, or boneset. Landscape fabric actually does a terrible job preventing most weeds, which is why it's no longer called "weed barrier" kike it was before the early 2000s. Using it with any organic mulch actually makes your weed problems worse over time.
    – Jurp
    Sep 24, 2021 at 14:19
  • Fascinating, thanks Jurp! The issue is, we can't walk around or use a big section of our yard for anything. Maybe they're not weeds, but they're tall, and some are thorny! I'd be open to a more natural solution than landscape fabric, but what? Sep 24, 2021 at 19:52
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    I totally understand that the area is not what you want it to be - I hope that I didn't come off as judgemental. If so, I apologize. I'm into wildflowers, but also have a lawn and a lot of non-natives in my garden. So, for a possible solution... If you're in the US, there may be a local group called Wild Ones (chapters are in many states). If there is, you could contact them, saying that you have a mostly prairie native garden that you want to remove, and asking if they'd be interested in any of your plants. They may be, in which case they would dig many of them up for you (cont.)
    – Jurp
    Sep 25, 2021 at 2:06
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    The plants would go to happy homes, and you could then weedwhack the remaining ones. If you have some patience, next year cover the area with clear plastic to solarize it. (more info available online - this has to be done right for it to work). Solarization will kill all plants and many weed seeds, but takes at least two months in summer sun. It will, though, give you a blank slate on which to plant lawn and/or more compatible plants for your needs. If no Wild Ones, perhaps there is a local botanical garden? Someone doing a prairie restoration? They, too, would probably want some plants.
    – Jurp
    Sep 25, 2021 at 2:08
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    Also, note that the milkweed and, if it's Canada Goldenrod, may be tough to kill even with solarization (constant hand-pulling does work, though).
    – Jurp
    Sep 25, 2021 at 2:12

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