If you stop it from reseeding itself, eventually you will beat it. Keep gardens planted densely, and mulch naked spots. Sunlight on soil equals weeds, says Scott Aker of the National Arboretum. He adds that some weeds may be trying to tell you something about your soil. Adding lime will help.
Plantains indicate very compacted or constantly wet soil.
If you have pernicious, weedy vines, first try keeping the vine cut to within a few inches of the ground, with the goal of never letting it develop a leaf. It's nearly impossible to dig up all the roots of these vines, so you need to attack them from the top. An infiltration of weed grasses in flower beds is hard to deal with and requires either pulling up everything growing there and meticulously removing all grass and its roots or using herbicides. From the April 2001 issue.