Hi all. I have been gardening for a number of years now, but in pots only. Now I have a dirt yard, and while it's only a rental apartment, I have decided to grow some things in the soil as well. I just transplanted the following small plants into the ground:

three types of native wildflowers... can't recall names off-hand but two of them grow up to 5-7'...I think one may be green coneflower, and the others are joe pye weed and great blue lobelia?

a small tomato plant

a type of arugula plant

a type of red leaf lettuce

While I "tilled" the soil and removed roots from weeds etc the best I could, there is no way I can rid my yard entirely of the invasive vines, one of which is English Ivy. (I don't know what the other is.) So while I plan to keep the weeds in check, at least in the immediate area where I just planted, there's no way I can stop the weed roots from spreading underground and around my plants.

As mentioned, I've never planted in the soil before. For any/all of these plants, would it be beneficial to cover the surrounding soil with a layer of decorative rocks or mulch? And would this somehow help to lessen any invasive vine/weed issues?

Tx!