I have a fairly large flower bed (3 FT wide by 40 FT long) that is full of weeds and needs to be re-bedded. What is the easiest way, with respect to the amount of labor involved, to dig it up, re-mulch, and re-plant this bed? Should I just dig out the plants I want, rent a tiller and go nuts? Is there some way to kill the weeds so that they will not grow back? I have been told that burying the weeds by mixing them up in the dirt will not kill them and they will just be harder to pull out since the roots will be deeper.

I don't know if this matters but, I intend to replace all the "high maintenance" flowers with drought tolerant shrubs like Indian Hawthorn, Mexican Heather, etc. This area gets lots of hot afternoon sun. The soil is typical Houston, TX blackish clay.

 

I would remove the plants you don't intend to keep. Pull the weeds. Put down landscape fabric. Plant the desired plants. Apply mulch. The weeds will grow in the mulch sooner or later. Just pull them when they appear or spray Roundup. I have 15,000 sf of beds, Roundup is my friend.

In the beds with wood mulch, I find it easier to pull weeds or spray. In the beds with leaf mulch, a scuffle hoe makes short work of the weeds.

I don't turn under or remove wood mulch. It does not last long enough to bother with. I just add to it. As time passes the plants' roots move into the developing soil layer from the decaying wood.

Hope this helps.