I'm sure they vary by area, but these are some common weeds. http://www.bhg.com/gardening/pests/insects-diseases-weeds/types-of-weeds/ I've tried many weed killers, and nothing has been working. What I've done lately is drench the roots and plants with a mixture of hot water, vinegar, and dish detergent. I'm low on white vinegar, so I'm trying apple cider vinegar, which I have more of. I'm not sure if the result will be the same, but it seemed worth trying. The mixture (with the white vinegar) seems to be killing, or at least weakening, the roots of the most prevalent type of weed (I haven't identified it yet), and then I'm able to easily pull them. They're fairly large, so it goes much faster than individually pulling small weeds. I let the mixture sit for a a couple of days after pouring it on them, and it seems to seep down and weaken the roots.
When we ask our housemaids to remove the weed in the backyard garden, my husband would be supervising them. It is not good to leave them alone because our backyard is full of herbs and other plants that look wild but not really. The tawa-tawa is a curative herb that can be considered weed if you do not know. Well, tawa-tawa is a cure for dengue. We have testimonials on that. Another plant that looks like weed is the saluyot which is actually a vegetable.
Hopefully the housemaids will learn the difference, and can plant some of the helpful herbs and vegetables at their homes. The last time I checked, the weeds weren't coming up as easily with the apple cider vinegar, and based on what I've seen online, white vinegar is the way to go, so I'm going to stock up on more today or tomorrow, and try to get some more of the weeds removed this week, unless the heat is too oppressive.
I like to use the white vinegar on the weeds in the cracks on the driveway along with hot water. It does work but it is something that needs to be done a few times to stop the plants from coming back.
Yes, it does need repeating. Also, the soap helps the vinegar stick to the weeks, which facilitates the killing process. I don't mind repeating the process for the driveway cracks, because those are small areas, but it can get tiring having to repeat the process for the entire front and back yards, as well as the ditch out front. I got a good portion of the yard done yesterday, but there's still plenty more to go. Rain is in the forecast, which might fortify the weeds, making it more difficult to kill them, but my vinegar order will be here later in the week, and I'll be ready for another round of dosing then.
Most of the "weeds" that we have in our yard are edible ones; so I do not usually try to remove them. As long as they are green and can be mowed along with the grass, they are welcome to grow here. We have clover, violets, dandelions, and plantain (both the wide leaf and the narrow leaf). Sometimes, I do go out and pick them and add them into greens that I am cooking as part of a meal. I like them in scrambles eggs, too. I have even tried them in green smoothies. The violets and the clover are both fine for that because the taste is mild, but I like dandelions better when they are mixed with other greens and cooked because of their bitterness. The one weed that we do have that I really want to get rid of is the poison ivy. I did try spraing it with the vinegar, salt and dish soap, and all it did was make it shinier. I suppose something must kill it; but unless I use a commercial weed killer, I think it will be hard to get rid of it completely.