Even if gardening isn’t your passion, you understand that
Weed growth is unavoidable.
They can infiltrate any area outdoors. These invaders creep into your lawn, overrun your flower beds, and they’ll also discover the smallest fissures among your paving stones or on your driveway to call home.
To be honest, I don’t really mind weeds under some circumstances—I believe it’s neither practical nor efficient for me to spend an excessive amount of time striving for a perfectly weedless garden.
However, there are certain aspects that I believe detract from the general aesthetics of my area, with one being in the
flagstone walkway
in front of my house.
Particularly, dandelions appear to be drawn to this section of my front lawn, and occasionally it seems as though it transitions from weed-free one day to entirely overgrown with them the following.
They also become quite difficult to extract from the ground when they get stuck between flagstones, so I opted for a technique I had been noticing everywhere online, and it didn’t disappoint me.
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How I Eliminated Weeds Using Vinegar
I really enjoyed this weed control technique since there was no need to purchase costly equipment or supplies; everything required is just vinegar and a few basic items.
refillable spray bottle
You may include some water and dish soap in the mix as well.
I mixed my ingredients in a spray bottle (for bigger areas, you might want to opt for using a)
garden sprayer
), and set about working on the
dandelions on my walkway
.
I was quite generous with my approach, ensuring I covered as many of the visible weeds as I could.
I was genuinely astonished at how rapidly it took effect. I had expected to have to wait until the following day to notice any outcomes, yet after only a few hours, when I stepped back out, the weeds showed clear indications of being dead.
I waited a bit longer, and all the weeds I had sprayed ended up being entirely dead. They pulled from the soil with minimal effort, cutting down my weeding time significantly.
In mere minutes, my flagstone path was free of weeds once more.
When It’s Inadvisable to Use Vinegar for Weed Control
Using
acetic acid in vinegar can be used to eliminate weeds
is not always the optimal choice for every scenario.
vinegar spray
I eliminated everything it came into contact with (including some moss I would’ve been glad to keep untouched).
Should you possess a gardening area,
manually extracting with bare hands or employing a weed removal device
It could be a more effective approach, ensuring you don’t accidentally destroy any plants you want to keep.
You should also keep it away from your grass, because it will exterminate nearby vegetation too, resulting in an uneven lawn—a situation far more unsightly than just having a few weeds.
However, employing vinegar as a herbicide for pathways, patios, and driveways serves as an excellent approach. It doesn’t harm the stones or cement surfaces, plus it’s more convenient to apply compared to manually pulling out the weeds—those pesky plants often have deep roots wedged tightly within narrow cracks which makes extraction challenging.
It’s fast, easy, cheap, and will return your weekends to you.
Read the initial article on
The Spruce
