posted 8 months ago
The permie way would be goats and/or pigs. Pigs will get the roots out.
Next step down is you manually removing them by hand, but this is a horrible job and likely to be futile if the roots go into rocky rubble.
Slightly less natural, but still a lot better than using sprays, is to put the whole area under thick black plastic weed barrier for 12 months or so. It's a super effective way, especially on awkward terrain that isn't well suit to other methods. You will still need to do some manual reduction initially to get the plastic to lay properly, but you won't need to get roots out. Even after 12 months you may find some very stubborn plants still alive, but you should be able to easily spot weed those few remaining ones. Avoid fabric weed barriers. The theory is they allow rain to percolate through, but in practice they degrade down to plastic fibres that end up polluting your soil for ever more. Proper thick black plastic will last decades and can be stored and used again as needed.
Moderator, Treatment Free Beekeepers group on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/treatmentfreebeekeepers/