Removing weeds the right way

mcneil

I've a house in the country with large drive way right around the house. It's filled with small limestone chippings until I was either to tarmac or pave. Over the years I've been pulling by hand the weeds and newly grass shoots to keep on top of it so it didn't look untidy. However, these last 3 years I've been really busy with my business and hadn't the time to do it. Now it's a mess! Weeds and grass shoots everywhere!

If I were to pull by hand, I would say it'll take me a few days which I don't have spare. I've been told roundup will sort it however I didnt really want to spray roundup anywhere near my house. 1 reason is the kids play out in the drive and the other is if I kill all these weeds/grass shoots with it, I'm thinking it'll still leave a brown spot which will have to be lifted anyway.

I've even been considering hiring a mini digger to scrape it all off but thinking by his is a bit over the top to be honest.

Any suggestions!

lottpaul

First of all bear in mind that your weeds are now packed with seed heads etc and whatever you do try to do it asap and without too much disturbance.
Secondly I don't think a mini digger will help anything in the war against weeds (unless you already own one and just love to play with it!) It's a bit drastic and may just succeed in spreading the seeds.
You've mentioned the most obvious solution yourself - weedkiller - and there are several types that will work. If you follow the instructions correctly they are safe to use around people, animals and other plants. Don't be tempted to use too strong a mixture - it's not necessary. Unless there are weeds everywhere you won't have a huge brown thatch left behind and you can always pull out the biggest ones and rake out the others after a few weeks.
Another option if you have a gravel/chippings driveway is to hoe your weeds but that will be very difficult if the chippings are compacted and is usually not so successful against grass with it's complex and fibrous roots.
If it was me (and I was in a similar situation until a few weeks ago) I'd spray. I did it 2 weeks ago exactly and all the weeds are dead, the bigger ones raked up and the smaller ones just left to decay away.

tringle

Ive just sprayed and yes I have brown patches, some of the weeds have completely gone and some will need to be pulled but are much easier to pull than live weeds. However we are organic and I didn't wan to use vegetable and wildlife unfriendly chemicals so I used salt and vinegar.
5 litres vinegar to one cup of salt and a big squirt of washing up liquid, spray on a sunny day with no threat of rain. I did the really rough areas twice.

Ragnar Lothbrok

tringle wrote: »

Ive just sprayed and yes I have brown patches, some of the weeds have completely gone and some will need to be pulled but are much easier to pull than live weeds. However we are organic and I didn't wan to use vegetable and wildlife unfriendly chemicals so I used salt and vinegar.
5 litres vinegar to one cup of salt and a big squirt of washing up liquid, spray on a sunny day with no threat of rain. I did the really rough areas twice.

Just the normal malt vinegar or did you use white/cider vinegar etc? Very interested in this as I have a smaller weed problem myself.

tringle

I used white vinegar....I bought it in Musgraves for about €6.50 for two 5 litre containers, and 25kg bag of salt for just over €5. The cheapest you can get.

lazybones32

You could hire a blowtorch and burn them or, spray first and burn them 2 weeks later when they're withering. Spraying is safe once the kids are kept in for an hour and don't go licking/eating the weeds. This will only solve the problem for a few weeks.

There is stuff available that claims to prevent weeds for 6 months but it hasn't worked for me.

Hoof Hearted2

tringle wrote: »

Ive just sprayed and yes I have brown patches, some of the weeds have completely gone and some will need to be pulled but are much easier to pull than live weeds. However we are organic and I didn't wan to use vegetable and wildlife unfriendly chemicals so I used salt and vinegar.
5 litres vinegar to one cup of salt and a big squirt of washing up liquid, spray on a sunny day with no threat of rain. I did the really rough areas twice.

Oh please when will people learn, glyphosate is a chemical salt, and is far more efficient and cost effective than salt and vinegar and hence when used correctly will cause less damage. You think you are actually being organic by using chemicals other than mainstream commercial ones, you are fooling yourself!.

Ragnar Lothbrok

Hoof Hearted2 wrote: »

Oh please when will people learn, glyphosate is a chemical salt, and is far more efficient and cost effective than salt and vinegar and hence when used correctly will cause less damage. You think you are actually being organic by using chemicals other than mainstream commercial ones, you are fooling yourself!.

This needs more explanation - e.g. where do I get glyphosate, how do I use it, does it come as a branded name, etc.

Are you saying that white vinegar and salt would actually do more harm to the garden than a commercial weedkiller?

runawaybishop

Ragnar Lothbrok wrote: »

This needs more explanation - e.g. where do I get glyphosate, how do I use it, does it come as a branded name, etc.

Are you saying that white vinegar and salt would actually do more harm to the garden than a commercial weedkiller?

Roundup, Gallup etc all use glyphosate as the active ingredient, think it's 360 grams per liter. 20 liters is usually just over 100 euro or 5 liters for 30ish quid. Even the 5 liter one will give you loads of applications so it's far cheaper than vinegar etc. It's also designed to break down quickly so you can let the kids and dogs etc out on it after a few hours.

edit: just checked, gallup 360 is 30 euro for 5 liters. A standard knapsack (20 liters) would only need a couple euro worth of it -250/350 ml depending on how bad the weeds are.

Squiggle

Aldi periodically stock a glysophate based weedkiller at €9.99 for one litre. I have used it on several occasions on paving at a mix of about 200ml to a 15l knapsack of water and it works perfectly well.

seagull

You have children. Put them to work. Two bags of weeds, and you can come in for dinner.

seagull

mcneil wrote: »

1 reason is the kids play out in the drive

Train the goats to eat the weeds instead of just playing there.

tringle

Ragnar Lothbrok wrote: »

This needs more explanation - e.g. where do I get glyphosate, how do I use it, does it come as a branded name, etc.

Are you saying that white vinegar and salt would actually do more harm to the garden than a commercial weedkiller?

I grow food and am careful about what I want near my crops. With vinegar if some gets on the crops it may cause them some damage but they are still safe to eat. And the ground is fine to plant in a day or two later. Salt may stay in the soil and prevent other crops growing for a longer period of time but this isn't an issue if it is a driveway or path.

tringle

runawaybishop wrote: »

Roundup, Gallup etc all use glyphosate as the active ingredient, .

Monsanto aren't getting any money from me:eek:

Hoof Hearted2

tringle wrote: »

Monsanto aren't getting any money from me:eek:

Monsato don't own the ingredient glyphosate, they own the brand Roundup.