I too thought bindweed so maybe once you have improved the soil you could put down a membrane and cut out holes for plants. I would go for something low and spreading myself to spill onto surrounding slabs although climbers could be another option. Depending on aspect of course. Maybe honeysuckle it’s pretty tough I find and smells so lovely?
Bindweed will find it's way through membrane ... it'll grow through every hole you cut for a plant, and it'll grow up twining through the plant as it grows ... it'll be worse than ever ... I've seen that happen soooooooo many times.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
We had bindweed with roots like that in our last garden and I ended up digging out a rather large bed to 2 spade's depth to hoik out as much as I could see and that worked but it had been a fairly recent appearance so wasn't well established.
In this new garden we have a different form of bindweed, smaller leaves and pink flowers and it only has white roots in the top few inches of soil. Beyond that they're brown, seem to be knitted and also seem to go down to China so, in the veggie plot we just remove as much as we can see when clearing a new bed for planting and we use cardboard to cover bare soil and cut out the light. Any new stems we see get hoed or forked out. Eventually we will win but spraying in the veggie bed is not an option.
When you remove these roots, whatever they are, leave them out in the sun to dry and die for at least a week before putting them in the green waste bin otherwise they will just regrow and spread.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
I'd agree with the others re the ID and the treatment. Several applications may be needed, so don't be in a hurry to plant anything. Patience is needed - annoying at this time of year when you want to get going with your project and get planting afterwards, but it'll pay off in the end. It can be very difficult to get rid of and will certainly work it's way through a physical barrier too.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
In this new garden we have a different form of bindweed, smaller leaves and pink flowers and it only has white roots in the top few inches of soil. Beyond that they're brown, seem to be knitted and also seem to go down to China so, in the veggie plot we just remove as much as we can see when clearing a new bed for planting and we use cardboard to cover bare soil and cut out the light. Any new stems we see get hoed or forked out. Eventually we will win but spraying in the veggie bed is not an option.
When you remove these roots, whatever they are, leave them out in the sun to dry and die for at least a week before putting them in the green waste bin otherwise they will just regrow and spread.
It can be very difficult to get rid of and will certainly work it's way through a physical barrier too.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...