Absolutely - that's how they got to be 'weeds'. They are the successful survivors. Good luck with the refurb.

"Weeds", unwanted plants, are a fact of life. They will grow where they wish no matter what we do, although mulches can help keep them under control some.

The only solution to quackgrass is to dig out all of the rhizomes that produce the above ground growth and put in barriers that will slow re entry. I used 10 inch wide roof flashing installed vertically. Janet Macunovich used 18 inch wide plastic carpet runner also installed vertically. Chickweed, Creeping Charlie, and False Dead Nettle spread by prolific seeding. The best means of control of most "weeds" is to keep the soil, or mulch, disturbed so they cannot root eaily.

I was mostly babbling here. nature always amazes me. man is usually the problem. my 'lawn' has lot's of white clover & dandelions. I actually plant those. the problem with my flower beds is that the creeping Charlie got going in my lawn & spread into the beds & I was too busy last year to keep on top of things. combine that with a mild winter during which these weeds stayed viable, they are now well entrenched.

I put old carpet down for a growth barrier around my bee hives & mulched over that I do not have to mow around them, the creeping Charlie grew right over it. when pulling the crabgrass I dig down with a trowel 1st. some of the roots are over 6' long laterally!!!! in the areas where I can i'll use some round up. in my vegetable patch i'm actually starting to win a 3 year battle with nut sedge.

Chickens in the garden bed will take out lots of those issues - and you get free eggs ;)

my town has a 1 acre minimum to have chickens. i'm on 1/2 acre. I have a 30' x 40' bed in my front yard. got it mostly cleared sunday. it took 7 hours & I had a 4-5 cubic yard pile of weeds. there was a 3' x 4' patch of mugwort. it has an amazing root system. i'm sure some of it ( & all the others ) will be back as there are always bits of roots left behind. there's also a morning gloryish looking vine. it has a lateral 1/4" thick white root that runs for miles. i'd have to get a skid loader & remove the top 2' feet of soil to get rid of these weeds!!. at least now I can do spot sprayings of round up to keep them at bay. next step is to clean up the lawn so these weeds do not creep back into the beds. the bad part for me is that the chemicals used to kill these weeds also kill all of my clover & dandelions. the false dead nettle & chickweed are blooming so i'm going to weed whack them to the grown before they can go to seed,

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