Hi
Thanks to all who offered advice on this subject - I really am very appreciative.
I found a fairly inexpensive Glysophate. And (in a departure my usual practice) I read the instructions and followed them.
I have used this stuff before - but after a day or two when nothing happened I weeded. BIG mistake! This time I left it a couple of weeks - AMAZING!! Almost everything was dead, even that horrible scraggly grass that is SO difficult to shift: Just the odd few spots of green - and I think they are newbies.
So I have now hoed the dead plants to get it all tidy for an upcoming event.
My plan now is wait for a sunny day toward autumn (immediately I sense some hoots of derision being made... a WHAT day???) and doing it again - hoping that a combination of Glysophate and winter frosts willl reduce my work signficantly next year.
Thanks again,
Keith