My gravel was littered with pesky weeds – a three part solution banished them in no time at all
A GARDENING WHIZZ has revealed a simple solution for banishing weeds from your garden gravel.
Weeds can become hard to keep on top of in the summer months, when the warmer weather encourages them to grow quickly.
They can pop up in all sorts of unwanted places, from garden patios to amongst your gravel and can make the garden look messy and unkempt.
Sharing a weed related predicament to Reddit, one person asked: “What’s the easiest way to remove weeds from gravel?
“I try to stay away from chemicals because I’m paranoid about them, but I will if I have to.
“Does anyone have any suggestions of a product I can use to get rid of them?
“I can remove them by hand I guess it will take forever”.
Underneath the post was a pictured of the man’s garden, where dozens of pesky green weeds were poking through his gravel.
The post was flooded with responses from avid gardeners, who have had weed problems on their own, and one solution in particular came out on top.
One person said: ” I tried vinegar, salt and dish soap, and was very surprised.
“Use one gallon one white vinegar, one cup of salt and one teaspoon of dish soap”.
Another person said: “Buy a high concentration vinegar. Buy salt. Mix that it in a one gallon pump type sprayer and spray that.
“The vinegar kills the weed, and with enough salt the weeds might stop growing in that area.”
A third person said: “Use mixture of vinegar, dish soap, and salt.
“Just don’t put it anywhere you want to grow other plants, as you will literally be ‘salting the earth.’
“But in a gravel driveway or something like that, it’s the perfect thing to ensure you kill off the weeds.”
July gardening jobs
The Sun's Gardening Editor Veronica Lorraine, has shared the tasks you need to tackle this July in your garden.
1. Prune Wisteria
You should only prune back Wisteria twice a year – and July – or mid summer – is one of those times. After flowering cut back long side shoots to around seven buds.five or six leaves.
2. Pinch out tomatoes
Your tomatoes should be really picking up – so pinch out all the side shoots without flowers – and remove all the leaves that are shading the tomatoes – this will give them maximum light and energy.
3. Keep weeding
Hand weeding and hoeing the surface of the soil will keep your weeds under check.
4. Feed Dahlias
To keep Dahlias flowering until Autumn, you must keep feeding them weekly with a liquid fertliser high in potassium – which encourages blooms.
5. Keep deadheading plants
Keep up with deadheading your bedding plants and perennials – so they keep coming back for the season. With roses make sure you’re deadheading back to a set of five leaves, giving you the best chance of them flowering again.
6. Check on your pond
If you’re lucky enough to have a pond – make sure it’s clear of algae, which can really bloom when the sun beats down.
7. Feed your lawn
Whether that’s with a liquid feed or granules. If you’ve chosen granules try to get them down before the rain comes, so they soak into the soil.
8. Tend to strawberry plants
Cut the leaves off strawberry plants after you’ve picked them – leaving the crown untouched – which should help with next years fruit.
9. Sow extra seeds
July weather is a great time to sow seeds as the warm soil and sunshine is great for germination. Try carrots, winter broccoli and other brassicas.
10. Move young plants into soil
Get any young plants you’ve got left in the greenhouse – like courgettes – into the soil.
Other methods recommended include using a weed torch, and pouring boiling water on the weeds.
Salt is a great natural alternative to toxic weed killer.
It works by increasing the levels on ions in the soil and increasing osmotic pressure, which means the weeds will be unable to absorb water and will dry out.
White vinegar works in a similar way, as the acidity of it breaks down cell walls and removes moisture from weeds.
Washing up liquid does not work on its own to kill weeds but improves the effectiveness of the formula by holding the salt and the vinegar on the weeds.
All three of these ingredients are super cheap, so you should be able to make the mixture for around £1.
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