Gardening and Horticulture - Weeds

I have a lot of weeds in a big spot where my wife would like to plant a garden. I plan on spraying RoundUp Weed and Grass chemicals in this entire area to kill and clear everything up for her. Is it safe to plant seeds, flowers, etc in this area after spraying it with Roundup?

I don't know much about gardening so I thought I'd ask before she actually does it. Thanks!

If you're just planting things to look at, then it's safe (I'm assuming you mean for the flowers) but you have to wait a day or so. If you're planting any vegetables, then I would not use it. If you have any kids or pets that like to play in the dirt, I wouldn't use it either. You might want to turn the soil and add some fertilizer like Miracle Grow or some places like farms, will put out natural fertilizer that you can go pick up yourself. Turning the soil will make the weeds come out naturally, too.

What advice can you give to prepare an area for vegetables that has lots of weeds?

I'll tell you what I do and maybe someone else has a better way, but you can either get (don't know what it's called but kind of reminds you of a rake only it's wide and firm with what looks like a fork - sorry if I figure out the name I'll let you know) to pull out the weeds or just use a weedwhacker, if you have one, to whack them off. Then get a shovel (or you can use a tiller which you can rent or they sell small ones now if you don't like shoveling) and just turn that soil around and the roots of the weeds should come out too when you do this. Then throw in that fertilizer (actually you can buy the bagged kind from a garden center) and mix it all up and you're ready to go. You don't have to be perfect about all this because the weeds are going to keep coming back, no matter what you use or do, so you just have to plan a little time every week or two to keep up with the weeding. Just pull them out with your hands as you see them. :D

I drive myself crazy when I try to remember what something's called, LOL :D
It might be a cultivator or a level head rake.