Eli5 Why are weeds so hard to kill while desirable plants so hard to keep alive?

Question

Weeds grow, well, like weeds, out of the cracks of the pavement with nothing but municipal runoff to keep them alive. Meanwhile I have to work tirelessly to keep my tomato and pepper plants happy and fruitful. Why do weeds dominate a garden?

In: 61

Answer 1

The weeds already live here, and easily thrive here.

Your garden plants are usually not native, and are far from home. Maybe where they’re from, they were once weeds too.