Sentence:  Now 'tis the spring, and weeds are shallow-rooted; / Suffer them now, and they'll o'ergrow the garden / And <WSD>choke</WSD> the herbs for want of husbandry. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To hinder or check, as growth, expansion, progress, etc.; to kill (a plant by robbing it of nutrients); to extinguish (fire by robbing it of oxygen).