What kind of weeds are we talking about? If some form of weedy grass, IME it is almost impossible to remove the roots successfully just by pulling the weeds - you DO need to lift the affected plants, carefully clear out all the roots and replant. This also pertains to some other aggressive and very root spreading weeds.

It is rather a lot of work and quite time consuming but it is the most efficient approach. And especially with those sorts of weeds that are very persistent from just the root system - if you don't clear them out thoroughly, they will just come back! The good part is that fall is a pretty ideal time to undertake this project.

As gardengal said, you need to identify the weed(s) first. Give us some pictures!

Where I the world are you? While for some gardens fall is a very good time to renovate other area never see this season.

Some of those unwanted plants are fairly easy to dispatch by covering them with a mulch while others need to be dug up roots and all. But keep in mind that "weeds" are a part of gardening and you will never be totally rid of the unwanted plants called "weeds".

kimmq is kimmsr