Time to start thinking of planting the garden, and getting rid of the weeds, so that every summer when you wage a war on weeds you win the natural way. The following is from Lifehacker and is an interesting read in the dead of winter.
Instead of using commercial weed killer to eliminate those pesky weeds, we looked for more eco-friendly and cheap solutions and put them to the test to see which was best. Here are the results.
In this experiment, I tried 3 solutions: boiling water, white vinegar, and vinegar with some salt mixed in, and sprayed these to two areas with different kinds of weeds.
Boiling water worked to cook the tops of the plants but as soon as boiling water hits the giant concrete heat sink, it becomes a refreshing lukewarm bath for the roots. In the case of the crab grass, the dead top resulted in dead roots. Great job! In the case of the black medic, not so much. The cooked part stayed cooked and the uncooked part stayed alive.
In the case of vinegar, it had no effect on the crabgrass because crabgrass is extremely hydrophobic meaning it sheds water. Plain water beads up and rolls off or evaporates before touching the actual plant. If you want your vinegar to touch the plant, it needs to be "wetter" than water. Put a few drops of dish soap or shampoo in the vinegar before spraying. Molasses will work, too. Experiment with the amounts until you see the water/vinegar sticking to the plant instead of beading up. Vinegar should kill any plant it actually touches. If you can find 20% vinegar at a garden nursery, it will kill most plants in 20 minutes. 20% vinegar is fairly dangerous - don't get any in your face/eyes. Fortunately it is so strong you won't want it in your face.
Baking soda will kill crabgrass every time if you apply it right. WARNING: Most grasses will die with that much baking soda.
Corn meal, or more appropriately, corn GLUTEN meal, has no weed killing effect on living weeds. I personally believe, after extensive experimentation, that it has no weed prevention effect on weed seeds, either; but the University of Iowa believes otherwise. Corn gluten meal does; however, have an excellent fertilizer effect at a rate of 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. I get it at the feed store in plain brown bags.
Yes, dogs do like the flavor of corn gluten meal, but not that much. After licking it off the ground a few times, they give up.
Source: LifeHacker
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