Dordogne,
France 
I remodeled my veg plots in October last year- dug a spade depth all over and manually removed every weed and bits of grass- enriched the soil with rotted cow poo and wood ash from our stove over the winter and repeated the digging and weeding process in February- I planted the veg in a weed free plot and they are doing okay BUT they are being strangled with couch grass and other persistant weeds which are really deep rooted I cannot do anything but remove the tops- My neighbour says I dug too deeply and activated dormant seeds and it will take 7 years for them to be removed completely now- is this true and if so what can I do before next year?
3 Jul, 2014
Answers
Don't worry about the seven year thing. Getting the roots out is what's necessary, either by digging or glyphosate as above.
3 Jul, 2014
thankyou- I am out with my fork as we speak
7 Jul, 2014
You could have brought seeds to the surface, but Couch grass seeds are 90% infertile in any case. As are Dandelion seeds. All that has happened is that you have missed some of the roots, even the tiniest piece will soon grow and in good rich soil, boy do they grow.
As said paint the leaves with Glyphosate and hope it does the trick.
3 Jul, 2014