The new home place already has two raised beds and for expediencies sake I will plant in them this year. Unfortunately, they are in the Bermuda grass lawn and are already infested with the stuff. Once a bed is infested with Bermuda grass, it's almost impossible to eradicate without the use of harsh chemical herbicides (which I refuse to use). The plan is to build new beds in a Bermuda grass free area of the property and transition to those as possible.
The beds had lain fallow for the previous year and were overrun with weeds. The upper bed was filled with a forest of 3-4' tall weeds. I pulled out all large weeds by hand and then cleaned up the surface with a hula hoe. The hula hoe is a simple blade that travels just under the soil surface and cuts off the weeds at the root. Because it doesn't dig deeply into the surface, it can be used during the growing season right up to the edge of crops.
The lower bed was especially overrun with Bermuda grass. I burned it off to dethatch it, then cleaned up the surface with the hula hoe. After a few days, I went back and used the hula hoe to remove anything that remained green.
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