Weeds can be a nightmare to deal with, especially when they crop up between the tiny gaps in your patio. But one TikToker has a handy hack to get rid of them for good
Battling with weeds sprouting through the cracks of your patio can be a real headache but one TikToker has shared a surprising kitchen staple that could be your saviour.
Mum-of-three Jessica Nakamura took to TikTok to share her triumph with this nifty trick, earning herself a wave of likes. “If you need a simple way to get rid of the weeds between your interlock, try using baking soda,” she advised her followers (@thatmamarealtor). She continued: “I got this fifty pound bag from a farm supply store for just $30. Sweep it all into the cracks and then wet it with a garden hose. After 24 hours your weeds will look like this [dry and brown] and come out so easily. And they won’t grow back.”
Jessica isn’t alone in her praise for baking soda as a gardening hack, Wales Online reports. The Spruce’s experts also suggest combining 10 tablespoons of the substance with one gallon of water, then spraying it onto weed leaves. They clarified why baking soda is a weed-killing wonder. “The reason baking soda is effective in killing weeds is that one of its major ingredients is salt,” they said.
“In sufficient quantities, salt’s effect on plants is to dehydrate them. If you want to kill a weed permanently, this is one way to do it: dry it out so much that it can’t take up water anymore, and the weed will die for good.” Although Jessica shelled out $30 for her baking soda, you can nab smaller tubs at Sainsbury’s for a mere 59p or splash out an extra penny at Lidl for 65p. And when it comes to safety, PetMD attests that baking soda is relatively harmless for use around your four-legged friends and kiddos, as long as they don’t scoff it in sizeable quantities.
And if baking soda doesn’t tickle your fancy, plain old salt might just be your weed-whacking hero. PriceYourJob’s garden guru Harry Bodell breaks it down: “This method works by ultimately dehydrating weeds. “Salt interferes with the weed’s ability to absorb essential nutrients such as potassium, magnesium and calcium. The disruption in nutrient uptake weakens the plant’s overall health, causing it to dry out from dehydration and die.”
“Once you’ve prepared your salt solution, lightly pour the solution over gaps in between paving slabs on garden paths, specifically concentrating over areas that have weeds currently growing through. It’s important to do this on a particularly dry day so humidity and rain doesn’t wash away the solution. “Overnight, the solution will work on drying out the plant to the root, making the weed easy to remove the next day.”
