Hi xminion,

You may want to try posting to the herb forum, linked below.

I don't know much about herbs, but here are some of my (uneducated) guesses anyway. Yes, I think that first, you will want to pull weeds. Then, it will depend what herbs are there. Some herbs are woody shrubs (rosemary, lavendar), and will survive for years, but may very well need pruning. Some herbs are perennials and can be left alone (with the exception of some mulch and compost), and others, like basil, are annuals that are probably way overgrown and should be pulled out.

Good luck,

CarrieB

Here is a link that might be useful: GardenWeb herb forum

I, a vegetable gardener, got a job renovating (de-weeding) a large (10-bed) demonstration herb garden and it's paths.

I didn't know any of the herbs!

Not a problem: I weeded by my sense of smell. Crush a leaf; if it smelled potent, save it (or maybe thin it out.) If it was boring, or smelled like a 'familiar' weed, out it came.

(I saw it 9 years later: it had become a jungle.)

You could pull weeds or solarize the area by covering the plot w/ black plastic (if you have the means to do this). You leave that for a week or two and allow the sun to bake and kill the weeds.

If you weed the area then till it deeply chances are you'll disturb weed seeds and will have more weeds to contend with.

I laid the black weed fabric down, solarized, removed fabric, tilled to about maybe 3 or 4 inches, framed the bed, bought good soil (from a soil yard), planted and topped it w/ compost and mulch. My bed is doing fine and virtually weed free (except for what the birds "drop" by).

Good luck!