How to get rid of Japanese Knotweed

We have a patch of land that should be doing something productive but instead is growing Japanese Knotweed.  I'd like to fix that.

The simple description of how to deal with it seems to be to smother the affected area (using tarps or old carpets) and to do container gardening on top of that ground cover.  (ref about.com)

It's time to think about it now, because I know that come May, it'll be growing with wild abandon.

Comments

[Mark]

It's very important to deal with early outbreaks before they spread. The Midwest Invasive Plant Network has a fact sheet at http://www.mipn.org/Midwest%20Invasives%20Fact%20Sheets/PDF/knotweed.pdf