Nothing ruins your garden or yard like weeds, those uninvited guests that rob your plants of space and nutrients. So murder those weeds most foul, but without harmful chemicals that can do you in, too.
Who says you need standard weeding tools to kill weeds? If you don’t want to crawl around on your knees for hours to rid your garden of these undesirables, here are seven ways to kill weeds before they start, using weapons you already have around your house.
1. Newspaper
A carpet of newspaper, which blocks sunlight and oxygen from reaching the soil, will smother weeds already sprouted and prevent new ones from growing. Throw down newspaper in 10-sheet layers, wet to hold it down, and cover with an inch or two of mulch. If weeds begin to grow in the mulch, add more layers, making a mulch-newspaper lasagna, which eventually will decompose and nourish the soil.
2. Old shower curtains and carpet samples
Spreading these useless items in garden paths or between rows will keeps weeds from ever showing their unwanted heads. Cover with mulch. This also makes walking between your rows of vegetables and weeding your garden much less muddy.
3. Corn gluten meal
This corn by-product stops seeds from growing into weeds. Since the meal will prevent germination, spread it around established plants, and after seedlings and transplants have taken hold in the soil.
After harvest, spread the meal to prevent late-season weeds.
4. Vinegar
The acetic acid in 5% vinegar is a desiccant that sucks the life out of plant leaves. It’s most destructive to young plants with immature roots, though it just rolls off weeds with waxy leaves, like pennywort or thistle.
Make sure you cover desirables before spraying, because vinegar is an equal opportunity killer and will destroy your flowers, too. Keep your spray on-target by removing the bottom from a 2-liter plastic soda bottle, and placing it over the weed. Spray vinegar into the mouth of the bottle, which will keep it from splattering on your vegetables or flowers.
5. Vodka
We don’t know if vodka makes weeds fall down dead or drunk, but 1 ounce mixed with 2 cups of water and a couple of drops of dish soap will dry out weeds that live in the sun. It doesn’t work that well on shade-loving weeds. Protect desirables, because vodka will dry them out, too.
6. Soap
The oil in soap can break down waxy or hairy weed surfaces, making them vulnerable to desiccants. So add a few drops of liquid dish detergent to vinegar or vodka sprays to keep the solution on leaves. The soap also makes leaves shiny, which will help you keep track of what you’ve sprayed.
7. Boiling Water
After you’ve made yourself a cup of tea, take the kettle outside and pour the boiling water on weeds, which will then burn up. This is a particularly good way to whack driveway and walkway weeds,
because the boiling water can run off impervious surfaces and cool before it reaches border plants and your pristine green lawn.
DIY Weed Killer Spray
This non-toxic DIY weed killer spray is very effective while sparing the beneficial insects that populate your yard.
1 gallon white vinegar
1 cup salt
1 tablespoon liquid dish soap
Combine ingredients in a spray bottle and treat weeds at the sunniest time of day for best results. Remember to protect the plants you don’t want to kill.
— Houselogic.com