If you have weeds, you need newspaper. The shot weeds and oxalis are two weeds that sprout in the spring and shoot their seeds all over if you try to pull them up. Instead smother them with damp newspaper (several sheets thick) and a covering of bark chips, gravel or compost mulch on top to hide the newspaper barrier. The newspaper will turn into compost and the weed seeds need sunlight to sprout so they will be trapped where the sun doesn't shine. For larger weeds use a thicker layer of newspaper and a deeper mulch on top. I've also used a thick layer of newspaper to smother and kill off sections of lawn. No plant can grow without sunlight - read all about it. Keep growing, Marianne Binetti