Wondering about 'natural' gardening tips

kylith

So I joined Pinterest a while back. For those of you not familiar it's a place where you can see what other people have liked on various websites/blogs. Kind of like facebook for items and crafts.

On the gardening section there are plenty of people 'pinning' natural gardening tips, one of which I was discussing with a friend recently. She's clearing a portion of her garden of a large number of thistles and was talking about using vinegar as she doesn't want to use chemicals, then adding baking soda, I think it was, to restore the ph of the soil. I opined that she'd be better off using a systemic chemical weedkiller that is designed to break down on contact with the soil and that the vinegar would murder soil microorganisms, and the baking soda would finish off anything the vinegar didn't.

What do ye think? Are natural weedkillers and pesticides better than modern chemicals, or are the Epsom salts, vinegar, baking soda, newspaper remedies more harmful to the garden than the chemical option?

magicbastarder

my natural gardening tip in the above example would be a sturdy pair of gloves and some elbow grease...

though i've never tried the 'cigarette left steeping in water' option.

redser7

It's true. Dig them out and then mulch, even with weed leaves

magicbastarder

i do enjoy the physical aspect of gardening, and don't have much time for fripperies such as special treatment for tender plants (if they won't make allowances for the climate, i won't make allowances for them).
plant whatever is suited to the conditions, and deal with any issues physically rather than chemically.