If what you have is bindweed the worst thing you can do is pull it. Pulling it and breaking the roots actually stimulates the plant to grow more rapidly. You can get rid of it but it will take you a while. The idea is to weaken and exhaust the root so much that the plant dies. First of all, stop pulling it! You need to mow/weed whack/shear it to force it to keep putting out new growth. You want to keep it in the active growth phase and not let it get to the flowering or seed setting life stage. With continuous cutting the plant will/might start to grow extremely flat, it will hug the ground. At this point you'll need to switch to chemical warfare. Start spraying it with an herbicide containing glyphosate, i.e. Roundup and things like that. It need to be an herbicide that kills the root. Unfortunately if the bindweed has invaded a flower bed, you will have collateral damage. Shield the innocent as best you can. Don't try lifting plants to save them from the herbicide. If you get even the tiniest portion of a bindweed root you will spread it. While doing all this never let the plant flower even if you have to hand pick the blooms! Try to keep mowing/shearing it whenever possible. Watch for new plants trying to emerge away from the parent plant too. Keep after this mowing/cutting/herbicide routine until the plant freezes back this winter. Watch for new growth next year. You might have to do this routine for several years because of seed drop from previous ones. Even after the plants are gone you'll need to always be on guard for the stuff, it's a real pain. Good luck!

Thank you for all the responses. It's interesting to read how deer behave, in different parts of the country. I don't know if it the deer themselves, or how much they have to eat...but there are definitely differences! So far, the lavender and other herbs/flowers have protected the roses pretty well, so I tried doing that in the vegetable garden, too. I planted marigolds, cosmos and zinnias around the broccoli, cauliflower and dill. The deer walked through the garden (I see them in early morning, walking on the paths LOL) but they never touched the dill and only ate the broccoli and cauliflower leaves, after the first frost killed off the flowers. Very interesting! So, where deer are hungry and numerous...this may not work, but I'm going to keep experimenting and see if I can hide more veggies next year. If only I could find something tall enough to hide corn, but I think I'll need a fence to grow that :)

Well it's good to know I'm not alone, I guess! Thanks for the replies. I think that motor oil or other toxins from vehicles is the most likely culprit in my case, as with yours, barrett001. I'm guessing used oil from farm equipment in my instance. I tend to discount the compacted soil theory because my blighted area is on a fairly steep uphill slope, so not optimal for parking, but it is possible. Interestingly, when I did a search for trees that are tolerant of toxic (petroleum in particular) soils, many varieties of crabapple were on the list, so I guess that explains my sole surviving tree. It is remarkable how the area has such distinct boundaries. It extends a short distance into the neighboring "re-foresting" area, and two of the spruce seedlings I planted there suffered. One died early on, while the other is a stunted specimen today. Just on the other side of the invisible line, their spruce companions are all thriving and about ten times taller than the stunted tree. If I had less land, a small yard for instance, then I would be digging out the old soil and replacing it, or building a raised bed filled with untainted soil, but as it is I have no interest in soil testing or attempting to repair my blighted area. It's more of a curiosity for me.

Yes Mike. It is a very handy tool. The bent tip makes it really useful. You can grab the base of the plant and jiggle the base to loosen the roots and pull it out. Very useful when reaching in tight spaces especially for succulents. In bonsai the back of the tool that likes a little spade is useful to tamp down the soil, smooth it out and tamp down moss on the soil. I have two of them because my wife seems to like it too and it disappears from my tool box from time to time. Come to think of it I have two of most tools.