liverwort invasion

how large a space are you talking about? if it isn't that large i'd go non-chemical. if i didn't want to disturb the soil i use scissors to repeatedly top the plants off before they can grow much and send energy to the roots. this means at least once or twice a week sitting down on a comfy cushion and clipping away. it's actually very pleasant way to spend some time listening to the birds and the wind chimes.

the chemical version of not disturbing the soil and keeping the surrounding plants intact would mean sitting down with some glyphosate and painting the leaves of the plants i wanted to remove with a small spongy paintbrush. i would do it only when it wasn't about to rain and i would not walk on plants i've already painted (because that will spread the weed killer around from your shoes). it may take several applications for some plants, but wait a week or two between applications because it doesn't do much when it is dry or when the plants aren't actively growing.

since you've hoed the soil is already disturbed -- i'd find no reason not to turn it at this point.

dig as deep as you can to get all the roots at once, one clump at a time. turn it over on top and break that clump up using a four pronged rake or whatever works. you just want to get the roots out of the dirt and exposed to the air so they dry out.

i rake the exposed roots up into a pile and throw them on top of the compost pile. usually they get dried out by the sun and air before i throw more stuff on there.

after that i keep an eye on the area for spots that i've missed and turn those up again and take those roots out. in the meantime i've replanted with something i do want to grow there (to keep other opportunistic plants from moving in).

i'm doing this for an area taken over by horsetail and it requires some patience and persistence, but i don't want to spray that area with chemicals (or paint them on the horsetail) because i hope to grow beans there this year.

good luck! :)

songbird