If you want to keep your garden weed-free without using pesticides then this hack is worth a try – and all the ingredients can be found in your kitchen cupboard
Weeds are pesky plants that can be a nuisance to gardeners. This is because they can rob other plants of nutrients, light and water.
Mostly growing in the warmer weather, it is important to get rid of weeds as soon as they start to appear. While there are several weed-killers in your local home and garden store, some people prefer to use organic remedies to get rid of them. One gardening expert shares her “cheap” homemade method to “fight” off weeds, and all the ingredients come straight from your kitchen. It involves mixing two cups of white vinegar, two tablespoons of salt and one teaspoon of washing up liquid. To start, add the ingredients to a spray bottle, before replacing the sprayer top and shaking gently to mix. After that, the solution needs to be sprayed onto weeds as soon as gardeners notice them.
According to Jill Nystul, the woman behind home and lifestyle website OneGoodThingJillee, you need to be careful not to overspray – to avoid singeing any grass around the weed. To get the most out of the hack, spray your weeds on a warm, sunny day. Jill said: “The acetic acid in household vinegar works to help fight against weeds in two ways. First, it burns the weed on contact and second, it lowers the pH of the surrounding soil, making it harder for the weed to survive the encounter.
Adding dishwashing liquid thickens the formula and makes it stick to weeds. The expert added: “Straight vinegar is relatively thin, and on its own, might drip right off or evaporate before it has time to do enough damage.” As for the salt, this makes the DIY weed killing solution a bit more powerful, according to The Express. She said: “Salt is highly effective, especially on a sunny day, at drawing out moisture. When combined with vinegar, it helps to burn and dry out weeds, reducing the chances that the weed can reestablish itself.
“With these powerful yet widely available ingredients, the result is a DIY homemade weed killer that’s cheap to make, easy to use, fast acting and non-toxic to humans and pets.” Jill also suggested using newspaper or mulch and boiling water to completely get rid of weeds, and said: “Weeds need sunshine and air to grow, which you can use to your advantage when you want to eliminate them.
“Use a weed trimmer or mower to level them off, then use a ground cover like newspaper, landscape fabric, or organic mulch on top of them. Without access to sun and air, the weed can’t grow or produce new seeds and will eventually die. If weeds are a problem in the cracks of your sideways or driveway, boiling water makes a quick and easy solution. Boil a kettle of water, then take it outside and pour it directly onto weeds to kill them instantly.”