weeds, the, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

weeds, the n.

[its position on the edge of town]

1. (US tramp) a hobo camp.

1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1980		(ref. to c.1930s) R.A. Bruns Knights of the Road 204: Weeds. Jungle.

2. (US Und.) the outskirts, the suburbs.

1955

‘Blackie’ Audett Rap Sheet 115: Then we would pick up the tail of one of them until they got way out in the weeds at the edge of town somewheres.

in the weeds (adj.) [golfing imagery, the weeds make the ball less accessible than on the smooth fairway]

(US) in trouble, difficulties; busy.

1990		Story 3-5 22: In the restaurant business , that was a way of saying you were behind schedule , sweaty , too busy to think straight . It was the first expression he had learned [...] ‘ In the weeds’ .
1996		Customer Relationship Management 1-3 32: In the restaurant biz , we would say, ‘He’s in the weeds,’ or ‘He’s snowed under,’ meaning that someone was hopelessly in over his head.
1997		Feminist frontiers 255: If I'm really busy, if I'm in the weeds, and they want to touch me, I'll get mad. I'll tell them to stop.
2012		L. Berney Whiplash River [ebook] ‘I’m in the weeds this morning’.