Current understanding of soil biology and health actually rejects this old notion of competition for nutrients. Plants, bacteria, mycelia, insects, etc. all live and thrive symbiotically in nature. Soil is a living organism, and not just a whole lot of dirt and minerals. In fact, without the bacteria, the minerals are largely unavailable to the plants, and without the plants, the bacteria don't get the carbohydrates that they need.
It becomes a bit of a philosophical question: What is a weed?
Why do plants grow better de-weeded then? You maintain a garden?
Do they though? I think there are many variables in such an experiment beyond simply selecting some species over others. Are you mulching? Are you monocropping? Are you supplementing with compost? Are your preferred plants perennials or annuals? What is the long term health of your soil?
Weeds, in the invasive sense, are indicators of imbalance or compaction or some other issue.
It really easy to test, de-weeded garden bed plants grow bigger and healthier looking.
Read up on the subject. Thanks.
