If you've already planted the garden, anything you use to kill the weeds will also kill the vegetables (or flowers).

Your options at this point are a hoe or your hands.

If you use a pre emergent like preen it will kill the weeds that have not sprouted yet. As for the ones already growing bpgreen is right "man power" is the best way to go. There is a spray that will gill only grasses if they are a problem! It is called "Grass getter".

I use black plastic extensively for this. You may consider other types of mulches like grass clippings. I have a large garden I have to weed it about 1 hour a month. I have pictures posted on my blog if you want some ideas.

Here is a link that might be useful: My blog

There are some acid based herbicides that I have been experimenting with this summer. In the vegetable garden. Some are acidic acid, vinegar, and some are citric acid. They are organic in a sense and they are non-selective like roundup.

The acid based herbicides work a little different in that they literally fry the top of the plant depriving the root system of nutrients. They do alter the PH of the soil for a short time but within a day the soil PH returns to whatever it was. I have used 3 different kinds, including Burnout, and they seem to do about the same job.

For bindweed you have to keep at it. The stuff will definitely cook the plant top and the plant will disappear for a couple weeks, then reappear. So I get it again. In my experience roundup or 2-4D doesnÂt seem to do much better on bindweed.

The thing I like about these acid based herbicides is if you just hit a couple leaves of a tomato you kill those leaves, not the entire plant, at least so far. You really have to soak something to kill it. I have been using some version in my vegetable garden all summer with no adverse effects.

The other reason I use acid based herbicides is because I have a few loose chickens running around and this stuff wonÂt hurt them although they do not seem attracted to it.

Burnout is citric based with clove oil so for a day after you use it the whole area smells like salad dressing. Strong but not unpleasant. It is kind of murky so it is hard on sprayer tanks. They want to clog up. In the garden I use a hand sprayer version. The product I like the best is Weed Pharm.

These products are all much more expensive than chemicals.