WHAT’S YOUR TACTIC FOR KILLING WEEDS WITHOUT CHEMICALS? That’s what member Megansgreen asked recently in the Urgent Garden Question Forum, because her driveway gets infested with grass (so does mine, and the front pathway, too). Got any tactics for chemical-free weed control? We’d love to hear. Share them in the thread on the topic in the Forum now (and you can learn what ours are, too).
THE LECTURE that he’s been giving for a number of years is not-so-subtly called “Kill Your Lawn.” Ecological horticulturist Dan Jaffe Wilder knows that starting over and creating an entire native habitat instead of a lawn isn’t for everyone. But Dan just wants to grab our attention and get us to start to make some changes at least in the way we care for the turfgrass we do want in our landscapes. And maybe give up a little square footage of it to some other kind of more diverse planting, too, like the wild strawberries (Fragaria virginiana, inset). Alternative, more eco-focused styles of lawn care, along with some lawn alternatives is what he and I talked about on the podcast. Dan is Director of Applied Ecology at Norcross Wildlife Foundation in Wales, Massachusetts, and its 8,000-acre sanctuary. He’s also co-author with Mark Richardson of the book “Native Plants for New England Gardens.”
(Stream it below, read the illustrated transcript or subscribe free.)
Everytime I have leftover boiling water….such as from spaghetti or after canning, I take the pot out to the patio bricks, or driveway and pour along the weeds, boiling those weeds to death. I enjoy this immensely!….and the next morning….wilt!
As a rule, I rely on hand pulling and mulch to help keep the weeds in check, but for those driveway type situations, if you have a sunny driveway, there’s a great organic weed killer called Burn-out II. It works with the power of the sun–that’s why you need a sunny spot. And it works fast–within a couple of hours. I don’t trust myself with transporting all that boiling water–even in a closed tea kettle!