My battle with the weeds.. Most years, they would win out during the heat of summer no matter what we tried until we started prepping our garden with wet newspaper and straw. We have tried many different methods but we prefer no chemicals near any food that we grow.

We start with clearing garden area, adding compost followed by a good tilling. Then we top the planting area with a lilttle more compost. After setting our plants, we soak newspaper in water, just use a 5 gallon bucket full of water, place the newspaper in with the open edges down. We open sections up like a book and spread them out over the walk paths and around plants. Use several sheets for best results. We cover the newspaper with straw. Other benefits to this method is clean areas to walk in garden without all the mud to deal with, no additional tilling or excessive weeding. Just manage a little that may sprout out right around plants. Also over time the newspaper will degrade but still providing weed control until the following spring. I can say nothing gets thru the newspaper and less watering is required.