I'm having trouble cleaning out a garden bed, I need your ideas!

You have many options but first to a answer you what is your location

I am a professional gardener, and to me, if you got the sumac out, you can get anything out! Weeds do grow very fast, so if you do get it weeded again, put down newspaper, or mulch - anything to stop the weeds while you work on the rest of the garden. It sounds like it has great potential, so I say keep going!

I do sometimes use concrete for borders, so you could use the concrete to border the garden, or to make different areas, or a path. Depending on the what the concrete is like. The mulch you can use again. One trick I use frequently is using the bags of mulch and dirt for weed control - before I open them and use them.

You could try clearing one area, then using these bags to keep the weeds from growing . And plant that one area right away! If you take it in smaller areas, you might find it much easier to keep it cleared!

To ready your flower bed for spring planting and keep weeds at bay, rake out the mulch and lay flattened brown corrugated cardboard boxes on the soil. Wet the boxes and recover with the mulch. Over the course of the winter, the cardboard will disintegrate and keep weed seeds from sprouting. You can also do this with thick (8 - 10 sheets thick) newspaper. Then, in spring, the weeds won't get ahead of you as you decide what to plant and it will look tidy in the meantime. Happy Gardening! : )

Marcie & Barb each hit the bullseye.

Follow their recommendations and all will be OK for you ...