preparing (repairing?) a bed for planting - not sure what to do

solarization

it really depends on what you had in there. If it was Chinese invasives like privet and tallow the stumps will absolutely resprout. If it was old shrubs or similar they may not.

You should dig out any suspicious stumps left in the ground…get the bed soaked with water first then get in there and dig up what you can. If there are any really big ones that you can’t get, drill a hole in the top of the stump and CAREFULLY inject uncut Triclopyr into the hole. Do not let that shite get all up in the soil though.

After you’ve done as much removal by hand as you can, add whatever dirt is needed, cover with cardboard, wet everything good and cover with a tarp for the rest of the summer.

You should be good to go to replant in the fall

How thick are the roots/vines, and do you have a tiller? Did something similar about 10 years ago, creating a little home garden bed. The tiller didn't chew them all up, but helped to loosen them and let me rip the rest out. It was a labor of love, but one afternoon of sweating and cussing and nothing has grown back except the vegetables I plant every spring.

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there are a few big ones but for the most part probably 1/2" or less. just a frick ton of them.

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Pretty much been there, and done that. Largely done what cgrand suggested to you. Very likely most “trees” won’t grow back (depends on what they were), vines most likely will. Purchase concentrated trichlopyr (Brushtox, 61.6% trichlopyr, $35 for a quart) from Tractor Supply, a 1 inch or smaller, cheap, throwaway paint brush from HD or Lowe’s, and any vine or “trees stump” that re-spouts cut it and immediately paint the freshly cut stump with concentrated trichlopyr - it will kill them and you’ll get rid of everything undesirable overtime.

In my case, after clearing the area I’ll immediately brought in “garden soil” (composted forestry products, readily available at larger retail garden centers in bulk) to build the landscape bed(s) about 12 inches above grade (it will settle by 1/2 over time) and immediately planted. Of course, I have heavy clay soils where I live so slightly raised landscape beds are almost essential to success (draining and to insure newly planted material roots don’t sit in waterlogged soil), plus it’s aesthetic.

If you want to plant woody shrubs it might be best to wait until late fall-early winter although you can plant container shrubs now, but you’ll need to religiously water and care for them during the heat of summer. Fall-winter planting of woody shrubs significant reduces stress of planting and gives you much larger safety margin. If you go with fall-early winter planting of shrubs just plant the newly renovated area with annual flowers, perhaps some perennials, that you and the significant other like, to enjoy over the summer and early fall.

Anyway, I’ve done this in past, and actually doing it now in a bed I’m renovating, and it’s worked for me. I didn’t wait until fall-early winter to replant something enjoyable in the newly cleaned and renovated beds even though it was the beginning of summer.

I am combating this with my neighbors overgrown mess.
She's 90 and touched the yard in years and when we moved in the fence and all of the Azaleas down it were completely choked out by mostly Virginia creeper and brushkiller vine.
I've gotten in her side of the fence and pulled up as much as I possibly can and cut and painted stump killer on the exposed parts I couldn't pull up.

I'm interested to see how several Saturdays and Sundays worth of dealing with that mess pan out.
I'm sure it'll be back in short order

Yea the brushkiller took out 3 of the 8 azeleas.

Thanks for the tip.

i wish i knew what literally any of these plants were before i ripped them all out so i could ask more guided questions. like i have no idea what vines they were.

what is brushkiller? never even heard of it until this thread

Bush killer vine is an Asian invasive. It looks similar to Virginia creeper except its 5 leaves are different sizes compared to all the same size. You’d know if you had it because that’s all you would have

Most likely you had creeper it looks like this

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really pronounced thorns.

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probably common greenbrier or other smilax. If the leaves were green and glossy and the vine stems smooth it was that. Native vines that are also edible and crucial as wildlife forage

they are pretty easy to control if so, but you need to dig out the big white tuber that’s underground or it will come right back.