Big rocks

The first question is, what do you want to do with the yard. Unless you do something purposeful with the space, you will only grow more weeds. It's the nature of nature to fill in a vacuum. Do you want bare rocks and dirt? Lay in a cement or brick patio? Grow a lawn and crowd the weeds out? Grow a tree? Something else? Put containers down?

It will also help us immensely if you tell us what zone you are in. It gives us a clue as to what kinds of weeds you may have and what things might work best. For example, one low labor option might be solarizing, but that may not work in every zone.

Okay thanks for the advice. I would prefer bare rocks. This is a rental property and the landlord doesn't want anything to do with the weeds, so that leaves me to upkeep the yard. I live in Montrose, CO so not sure what zone to classify that to but its in the mid-west of Colorado. Heres another picture of the whole yard...the middle area would be nice to get some grass growing but I would settle for dirt seeing as its a rental. The parameter is all rocks and would love to just eradicate the weeds from around them.
-Thanks

This post was edited by Frus on Sat, May 31, 14 at 11:57

OK, thanks. According to the internet, you are somewhere around zone 5, which means solarizing may or may not work. If you are forecast in your area for a very hot summer it is a low-labor, effective option. Basically get lots of clear plastic and cover the areas you want clear of weeds, keep the edges of the plastic staked or weighted down. After several weeks of heat exposure (it has to be hot weather) you will have cooked all the life out of your weeds, their seeds, and everything else in your soil. Google "solarizing soil" for more info.

If this option doesn't appeal to you or if it's too cool to work where you are, I would recommend some good all-purpose ground-clear vegetation killer, glyphosate, in your rocky areas. There are several brands. If you get any into your neighbor's yard they will get mad at you because it kills everything for several months. You may need to apply it a couple of times because weeds are tougher than grass.

For your less rocky area, you could do the same, but then you are faced with a huge patch of bare unappealing dirt. You could mow the weeds and pretend it's a lawn (like others do from time to time, grin). I might try one good application of glyphosate on your dirt area (be prepared for it to affect your tree adversely, be careful) and then wait for the required time period before seeding with grass seed. You will still have a weedy lawn, but it won't be as bad as it currently is.

I have heard of burning weeds but am not familiar with the process. I do know it doesn't kill all the seeds stored in the soil bank like solarizing does. If you know an expert on burning you could go that route and then reseed with grass.