Some people mentioned that bindweed might not be as competitive in a forest garden environment. That has not been the case for me in my 3D perennial garden. The plant that is out-competing and behaving most imperialistically is without comparison bindweed. All the other weeds we’ve had to deal with before - ground elder, nettle, grass - have over time decreased and are now very manageable as the perennial ground-cover is in place. The problem with bindweed is that shading it out doesn’t work very well, as it simply grows up through the herb canopy.
Mulches have to be minimum 6 inches to be effective and it is crucial to go through the area several times over the first two seasons. If it manages to come up to the light, those leaves will send back energy and nutrients to the rest of the rhizome and keep it alive. When you then remove the mulch, the roots will have survived. After 1-2 seasons of having been robbed of light under mulch, the bindweed is gone for us. It only survives if it is allowed to harvest sun light around the edges of the mulch. Remember, the plant is rhizomatic, so treat “all the bindweed plants” as one clone.