I dug a border out a few years ago and thought I'd got rid of all of
the weeds, planted it up and the first year it was fine. The following
year it became clear that I hadn't got rid of everything and that
couch grass was coming though. I managed to keep partly on top of it
the next year but last Summer I was quite ill and couldn't do any
gardening at all. Sadly this means that the couch grass has now pretty
much taken over in some areas (those that I dug out the last - I must
have been getting too impatient to get all the little rooty bits out!)
It's growing up right through some of my beloved plants (mostly
perennials with a few shrubs, clematis and a couple of roses) while a
few seem to hae been smothered and haven't reappeared at all this
year.

I can't see any solution but dig them out, clean off the roots, pot
them up temporaily, use weed killer on the border and replant,
possibly laying some weed control fabric over the whole area too.

I know this probably isn't the ideal time of year to be doing this,
but I'm really only a June-August gardener as I'm a teacher and can't
find the time for big jobs like this at any other time of year, OH
isn't interested in gardening so it's all up to me. I admit to being
quite daunted by the whole thing, to be honest.

Any tips for the following would be hugely appreciated:

1. successfuly removing the twitch
2. what chemicals to use (we have cats)
3. whether more than one treatment would be necessary
4. advisability of weed control fabric to help prevent recurrence
5. care of existing plants while digging up, potting and replanting
6. anything else I've overlooked!

Very many thanks in advance,

scorpy
"You'll never get me up in one of those!" said the caterpillar to the butterfly ~ Timothy Leary