Use round-up. It is a systemic weed killer that actually grows the plant to death. It is neutralized when it hits the soil so your soil is never contaminated. It works slowly, because it has to work from the leaves down to the roots. You will notice the weeds drooping in a couple of days, and in 2 weeks they will be brown and you can either dig them out or leave them to rot.

I use it every spring on my flower boxes to kill the Quackgrass that insists on creeping in and I plant my flowers a month later with no ill affects.

Don't spray on a windy day or the spray may be carried where you don't want it. The spray will kill anything green it lands on. I use a piece of cardboard to protect my perennials when I spray. You may have to spray again because you probably have seeds in the soil too.

Another option is to cover the beds with black plastic, leave it on all summer, and let the sun do the dirty work. The heat built up by the plastic will kill weeds and seeds too. Since you are not planting until next year this might be your best option. You can always use the roundup in the spring if needed.

Even if you spray the existing weeds if there is weed seed in the`soil they will germinate unless you use some type of pre- emerge in which case it will prevent you from planting seed. You will be able to plant plants however.

Thank you both for your help, I appreciate any I can get! :) Now, this is going to be for a vegetable garden....will it still be safe to use the Round up and pre-emerge? Thanks again!!

Re read what the other two posters said. Then explain what you did not understand.

Since you are not planning to plant in those beds until next year there is no good reason, there seldom is, to spray any plant poison since you can just till periodically and kill those weeds in that soil. Or yo could cover that soil with newspaper and a mulch, that will both hide the newspaper and hold it in place, and accomplish the same thing. There simply is no good reason to spend money on as well as your time and energy spraying plant poisons when there are better alternatives available.

kimmsr: Thanks for your suggestions! I am going to go the newspaper/mulch route! Our city offers free mulch to residents and I love the fact it's better for the environment! :) Perfect! Thanks again!