9  Do-It-Yourself Weed Killing Tips —Environmentally Friendly, No Pesticides!

1. What to do with those leftover cocktails? . . . Got a patch of sprouting weeds?  The perfect place to toss cocktails left over from a party! (Any form of alcohol will work to dehydrate small weeds — from rubbing alcohol to whiskey.)

2. Destroy poison ivy and poison oak by spraying their leaves with vinegar or alcohol.

3. Homemade weed killer: Fill a spray bottle with white vinegar and add 1 tsp. of liquid dish washing detergent. Spray on weeds, being careful not to spray on plants you wish to keep. This works well for broad-leaf weeds, such as dandelions and as a spot treatment, not for large areas.

4. White vinegar sprayed on full strength is good for eliminating tiny weeds that spring up in gravel and flagstone paths or patios. Vinegar works fastest on a warm, sunny day because its acid prevents weeds from absorbing moisture.  Test your paving first to make sure vinegar doesn’t discolor it — or dissolve it (if your paving is limestone).

5. Put your tea kettle to good use. Fill a large pot, such as a stockpot or soup pot, with boiling water. Using potholders, carry it out carefully to an area that has small weeds  and pour boiling water on them. Use this method to treat weeds growing in sidewalk or driveway cracks or between stones. Don’t use on poison ivy or poison oak, whose irritating oils can be released in steam or boiling water.

6. Use undiluted bleach to kill grass and weeds growing in sidewalk cracks.

7. Water from boiled potatoes is an old-time potion for killing weeds growing in cracks of paving. Sprinkling with salt is another.

8. Smother areas of weeds with newspaper. Wet several layers of newspaper so they stick together and lay on top of the weeds. Cover the weeds completely so no light reaches them. Use rocks or dirt to hold the papers in place, and cover them with mulch to hide them. Once the weeds are dead, remove the mulch.

9. Newspapers are not the only recyclable material that  smothers large areas of weeds. Cardboard, old carpet or rugs, bedspreads, old clothes, bathmats, and such work quite well, too. As with newspapers, spread mulch or wood chips over the material to hide it until the weeds have been killed.

(NOTE: Although rock salt is a weed killer, it is not included here because it will erode concrete and can leave soil barren for years.)

 

Record  Your Weed-Killing Experiments & Successes

As you experiment with attacking weeds the natural way, keep a record of the details.  What kind of weeds? How did you attack them?  (E.g., list ingredients and quantities of each, the container you mixed them in, etc.)  What were the results? How long did it take?

Where to record all this information?  In your GARDEN JOURNAL & PLANNER.  Having one place to keep your gardening information and details will help make you be a better gardener.

 

GARDEN JOURNAL AND PLANNER
      by Michelle Marsh

 

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