My favorite things for weed control are mulch (mostly wood chips and/or grass clippings), and cardboard.
The mulch is nice because you can turn that into the soil after it has rotted down, and that adds good organic matter to your dirt.
And I find that cardboard makes a great "expedient mulch". It's super quick to place that where you need it, and a rock is usually all that's needed to keep it in place.

I gave up on using any of the plastic or fabric materials... those always seemed to put up too much of a fight with me!