I’ve been experimenting with different ways to get rid of unwanted weeds – organically.
Weeds are not the fun part of keeping a garden or having a yard. Pulling them can be a pain in the…back. Literally. Enough so, that it’s tempting to turn to the strong stuff. The last two times I’ve been to the garden center, the Roundup has been flying off the shelf! Roundup is toxic. Roundup comes with a warning label. Roundup is a curse word in most green circles. So, Roundup is definitely not for the organic gardener. Not to mention, that stuff’s not cheap! Go Green and Save Green with these organic methods for ridding your yard and garden of weeds:
The first method to organically rid your yard of weeds is to spray the weeds with vinegar. I added straight vinegar to a spray bottle and went to town on the weeds that are coming up in the rocks by my front sidewalk.
As you can see, it does work….to a degree. I feel like I inflicted some damage but failed to deliver a killing blow. I think it would require mass amounts of vinegar to knock these guys out! I’d reserve this method for small scale weed problems.
The second method to try to kill weeds organically is to use boiling water.
Using a tea kettle, I brought water to the boiling point, then poured it over the weeds. **Here’s a little helpful hint for you – water poured from a high distance tends to splash your feet. Boiling water does not feel good on your feet!** But look how well it worked! I was very impressed with this method. The biggest downfall is that it requires a lot of water – so it involves several trips to the stove. But, if your weed problem is minor – give this method a whirl!
Finally, use an organic weed barrier to kill grass that is growing as a weed.
I have grass where I don’t want grass. In fact, we pulled out a huge section of lawn and xeriscaped the area. However, no one seems to have informed the grass that it is no longer welcome in these sections of the yard. I spend hours pulling the grass out week after week after week. Not this year. This year I’ve formed an organic barrier using biodegradeable material I had on hand. Since the material is biodegradeable, I do know that I will be doing this job again. But instead of needing to pull the grass again in another week, I won’t need to redo the organic weed barrier again for several years. Oh yes. That is more like it!
First, I raked the mulch away. Then I covered the grass and soil with cardboard and newspapers.
Then I replaced the mulch.
That’s it.
Simple, yes?
The weed barrier will keep the grass from coming back and I haven’t had to purchase any expensive weed barrier material or add anything toxic to my yard. This method gets the triple thumbs up in my book!
Have you used any organic methods to kill weeds? What has worked for you?
I have use the vinegar method for a couple years now and am impressed with the results. Vinegar is cheep in comparison and safe. Just a couple tips it will kill anything around it such as grass and if it gets wet via rain or mositure before it drys naturally the vinegar losses its effectivness.
I am laughing, I read the article to my 17 yr old, he asks ” how green is it to heat and boil lots of water?” ps. All those extra newspaper is how I kept weeds out of my garden
Does anyone know of a great way to get rid of the weed comfrey (it’s like poision oak to my family just rubbing against it a little) and also blackberries? Would really appreciate the help!
Oh, Louise! I’m so sorry to hear about your family’s reaction to what is usually such a healing herb! My husband is just as sensitive to Virginia Creeper which I am in a now three year long battle against. I need help too! I even resorted to roundup as his last exposure to the creeper put him in the hospital but the little bugger is still back this spring. sigh…
Louise, Does comfrey come back every year? Can you try newspapers and cardboard as a weed type barrier? That is what is working for me with the grass that doesn’t respond to just pulling. Smothering it seems to be the only thing that works!
Heidi, Well, the water I used came from my rainbarrel – and you could use the microwave to heat the water to boiling since it does take less energy then the stovetop. Plus, it is definitely a lot more green than a toxic pesticide. But that always seems to be the trouble with green solutions – you think you find a great answer then a curve ball of “But…..” gets thrown in. Kinda like the new lightbulbs. More efficient, but there is the mercury waste that needs to be disposed of properly! I just try to do my best!
that what i do,,use vinger and hot water and it works all the time
I have yet to try it but I have heard that salt water works. I am willing to try it this year on my drive way it is a pebble one and it has been overgrown by grass.
Lisa, I’d be interested to know how the salt water works on your driveway. It makes sense that it would kill them but I wonder what the salt/water ratio would need to be? Then, if you boiled the water as well, would it be more potent? Let me know how it goes!
Thanks for the ideas. We are always looking for organic and natural ways to take care of our home, property and family.
Yeah for newspaper and mulch, Andrea! That’s our favorite way to get rid of weeds and keep them down in flower beds. We add a yearly layer of paper and mulch to all our beds and there’s the extra benefit of feeding the soil. Here’s where I posted about it:
http://www.anoregoncottage.com/2011/03/5-easy-steps-to-organic-weed-control.html
As for the other methods you’ve tried- you’re right, they’re great for small areas like walkways, sidewalk cracks and the like. When we moved to an acre – complete with a large circular gravel drive – these small-time methods don’t work anymore. We try to have it scraped regularly, but we live in a wet climate that grows everything, so we’ve resorted to commercial organic weed killers. And blackberries? NOTHING works on them but the most powerful killer. We’ve cut, dug, and smothered, and they ALWAYS come back. Here in the NW, they are one of the worst offenders.
Jami, Ooo. A gravel driveway would be tough. And I can honestly say, living in CO where blackberries are a tough thing to grow, it’s hard to imagine it taking over like a weed elsewhere in the world! Andrea