Home made Organic Weed Killers
The biggest upkeep you will have in your garden or allotment is weed control. There can be thousands of weed seeds in a square foot of soil. The best you can do is to win the battles and expect a long war!
The best way is to use elbow grease, making sure that you always take 100% of the root. Catch them early so they don't go to seed and weed regularly. It is hard work and easier said then done so here's a couple of effective organic methods that can help.
Homemade weed killer
OK this is a pretty simple way to kill most weeds.
- 500ml of white vinegar
- Half a tsp of washing up liquid
Mix together and put into a water sprayer. Now like every kind of liquid weed killer you need to be careful about where you are spraying. If you get it on your veg it will die too. Spray on the leaves of weeds. Avoid spraying onto the soil if you can - it's highly acidic and could affect your soils pH. For best results spray on a hot and dry day.
After spaying the weed should die within a couple days. It may not be as effective on weeds with deeps roots such as Docks and Dandelions.
If you really want to kill some weeds in areas where you will not be growing stuff like paths and patios add about 25 grams of salt to the mix. This will make the soil uninhabitable for a few years. Quite drastic but effective. Use with caution!
Boiling water as a weed killer
I've recently being experimenting with using boiling water on weeds. So far so good. Rather than wasting loads of energy by boiling the kettle I've been using left over water from cooked veg. I simply pour the water onto the worst offenders in my garden and they seem to die within 2 to 3 days. The boiling water will kill all the good bacteria and creatures in the soil. Don't worry these will be replaced quickly enough.
This method is my favourite the only down side is that you'll never have enough boiling water to deal with all the weeds. I've had great success using this in nooks and crannies in between paving stones. Again if you add some salt to the mix you will sterilise the soil for a few years.
What I love about the boiling water method is that it's a great way to recycle what's otherwise going straight down the sink.
