I'm working diligently (well, for me...) to keep my garden somewhat weed-free this year, after two horrible let-it-go years. I've dug the weeds out and mulched with ground/chopped bark. I'm pulling out the larger weeds every couple of weeks (or less?) but want to know: With the very smallest sproutings (less than 1/2", root-to-tip), can I just hoe under them and get all the root up and mush/loosen the mulch up to detach them, or do I need to pick out each seedling separately? Thanks!

I think the hoe method would work for most weeds - give it a try.

Your starting off right. You'll get most of them, little devils 😀. 👍👍.

😎😎😎

Sounds to me like you need a thicker mulch.
You shouldn't be having these itty bitty seedlings.

A thick enough layer of mulch means that you only have to deal with unwanted perennial plants left over from previous years.

If you are purchasing bagged mulch, that might explain the frugal mulching.

You might need to look for the chipper truck that the local tree service uses....
They will usually dump a load for gas money... $20 or so.

I can't seem to get them to come out 30 some miles from town... And the price for a load of horse poop delivered was upwards of $100+.
So... I haul out horse poop 1 pickup load at a time, and spread it thick enough to block unwanted seedlings, and help retain moisture... Drought here...

@stone - Thanks. I get 1-1.5 yards of bark mulch at a time (just picked up 1 yard) in my little truck. I put it on fairly thick, but couldn't get it on early enough before the perennials and bulbs started shooting up. The garden area had gotten so horribly weedy over the past couple/few years of total neglect that I'm thrilled that only small stuff is coming up so far, that I can take care of (hopefully) before it gets big. This last garden section (north, shade) is the worst, as I always leave it for last. I keep hoping to get the mulch down early in the year, but it always seems that something interferes - rain, cold, quilt guild meetings....

Years ago when I was just starting out down here, I'd pick up well aged horse manure - starting out in plastic garbage bags in my trunk. I probably should go back for more (now that I've got the truck and it's working this week...) I've become very neglectful, however, and I'm afraid that I'd just be putting more weeds into the garden. I've got a mulch pile (or spot), but it's too weedy to use except the stuff really deep down, and I "temporarily" heeled a couple of plum? trees in it which can be used for firewood soon. (the late freeze always gets the possibility of finding out what fruit they are, but the flower petal rain is worth their growing where they are).

I'm out in the boonies, too. When the electric company came through some years ago, I got the mulch from them, but they won't be around for quite a while now (we haven't had tons of blackouts like we used to before they did the needed tree work). A friend had a home chipper and I was excited about it but I found the home variety just doesn't cut it (or the branches..)

Hoe & pull I must.