Grassy weeds are out of control

We have a garden in our back yard, about 400 sqft or so, and in the center of it is a bathtub-sized pond. We love the pond, it is home to frogs and dragonflies and pollinators, which in turn attract birds, and the whole scene there is enchanting and lovely.

But some kind of grassy weed has taken over, first around the edges of the pond and now it’s colonized the whole garden. We can rip out as much of it as we like but it grows back seemingly overnight. Somehow it’s also taken over a raised bed in a totally different part of the property, so the pond might be incidental.

I think it might be nimblewill or crabgrass. Looking for suggestions on how to tame it without the use of either poisons or unreasonable amounts of labor.

Personally, I would remove it the best that I can and then drop creeping thyme and/or clover seeds in the area to try to offset the grass. You can watch them battle with each other, the grass may come out on top depending on what kind it is.

if you cover grass with a tarp or black plastic sheeting, it will die fairly quickly. Even used cardboard works pretty well. We have done weed control with old pizza boxes (which seem to accumulate at an alarming rate!). Of course the sun-block does not get rid of seed load, but then neither does a spraying of herbicide. Once the grass under the cover is dead and you remove the cover, new grass will sprout and you can then repeat the treatment. After seeds have germinated and been killed by cover, you are relatively safe to plant a chosen cover crop. Try to go native with your planting for optimal results: natives can thrive in the local climate without added watering and can support local insects which in turn support healthy soil and surrounding ecosystem.

To minimize use of plastic, you can do small areas of several square feet at a time. It takes longer, but allows many more uses of a single bit of plastic before you are inclined to discard it. Cardboard is generally only good for one reuse before it disintegrates.

Does it spread by its roots? If so, then a hungry goat would be best. I had clover spread like wildfire on one veggie patch and I just gave up and planted berry bushes there. Ripping all meandering roots would have taken me to an early grave.

Cardboard with 6 inches to 12 inches of wood chips or mulch will work well unless that grass spreads by roots as long as all the grass is covered so it cannot see sunlight.

Otherwise digging it out seems possible.

My thought is to try sowing parsnips very densely, especially the wild kind, and leave most of them in, until they make stalks. In mid summer of the year after next, when they are flowering, VERY carefully cut them down (gloves and long sleeves) and lay them as chop and drop mulch. (Or let them go to seed if you'd like.) Nancy Reading has done this with angelica too: the key is large, shady biennials, which are perfectly suited to invade low grassy habitats and initiate the transformation into a taller oldfield habitat, and eventually into forest.

Actually, now that I think of it, evening primrose could work too if you disturb the soil first. They are an earlier succession plant better for poorer, more disturbed soils. But they'd be less of a hazard!

Or... there is another plant I know. Jewelweed can also take back an area and shade out the grass completely, and is a non-hazardous annual. They do prefer part shade, but aren't as useful as parsnip.

I used my chickens to clear violets that were taking over my garden, however I couldn’t plant anything in there while they were working for obvious reasons. I heard ducks and geese eat grass and don’t disturb gardens. You could also use one of those large propane torches to kill the grass. I used one to stop thistle from spreading in my driveway by scorching the fluffy seeds before they could spread.