Love the game but it needs Paths!
Paths would do one thing: stop plants from growing on them!
Have them one block wide made of sand or stone and allow buildings to be placed on a pathed area that destroys the path under it.
This way I can make a path square to place a building i'm collecting resources for without it overgrowing while i do that, or I can make a path through the squares without having to stop and chop trees every time i want to walk through.
This would also allow a player to organize their square, set up the place they want random things to pop up, rather then the resources impeding your movement randomly XD