WITH the warm weather taking hold, it’s more than a little tempting to dust off the barbecue and get the burgers cooking.
But one thing that puts me off having a garden gathering is the state of my patio – with the weeds invading the cracks between every paving slab.
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And while there are countless products on the market claiming to get rid of the pesky plants, they’re usually packed full of chemicals – and can be pricey too.
So I decided to try three different hacks to see if any of them worked to kill the patio weeds once and for all.
Vinegar victory?
First off, white vinegar.
While it has long been used for cleaning purposes, it seems to have become increasingly popular over the past year.
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From getting rid of limescale to removing marks from windows, there are few things the liquid apparently can’t do.
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And apparently, white vinegar can also be used to get rid of weeds, thanks to the fact it contains acetic acid, which acts as a “contact herbicide”.
“The acid within vinegar breaks down cell walls and removes moisture from weeds, causing them to die off,” Rebecca Sears, chief marketing officer at Green Garden, explains.
“Vinegars that you keep in your kitchen, such as white vinegar, contain a level of acidity that can help remove weeds.”
So, I splashed out on a huge jug of vinegar from Amazon – figuring that I can use it for a variety of other cleaning chores if it didn’t work to kill weeds.
To make the weed killing concoction, I used 75% of white vinegar with 25% water, and put a generous helping of table salt in there too.
I then put it into an empty spray bottle, and gave the weeds a generous soaking.
Once that was done, I left the weeds for a week, to see whether or not white vinegar would answer my gardening prayers.
The result? Well… not very successful, in all honesty.
The weeds looked pretty much the same as when I started – with only a few of them starting to look brown around the edges.
Verdict: 1/5
Maybe this would work better if you were to use it on a daily basis, but as a one-off, it’s not particularly effective.
Keep pests out all summer
Hornets and wasps – hate the smell of peppermint oil so spraying this liberally around your patio or balcony can help to keep them at bay.
Moths – acidic household white vinegar is effective for deterring moths. Soak some kitchen roll in vinegar and leave it in your wardrobe as a deterrent.
Flying ants – herbs and spices, such as cinnamon, mint, chilli pepper, black pepper, cayenne pepper, cloves, or garlic act as deterrents.
Mosquitoes – plants, herbs and essential oil fragrances can help deter mossies inside and out. Try eucalyptus, lavender and lemongrass.
Shake it off
Next on my list to try out was salt.
Another cupboard staple that people turn to for other cleaning purposes, such as removing sticky spots from irons or keeping your coloured clothes nice and bright.
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But this time, I was using it in the garden.
According to an online gardening whizz, salt increases the level of ions in the soil, thereby increasing “osmotic pressure” and reducing the ability of the plant to absorb water.
This means the plant will then dry out and die.
Salt also adds toxic mineral ions to the soil, replacing calcium, magnesium and potassium – the minerals the plant needs to survive – with sodium, which is toxic to the greenery.
I took 200g of table salt and dissolved it in one litre of water, adding a splash of white vinegar for good measure.
You can use warm water for this, as a higher temperature of water will help the salt dissolve faster.
I then poured this solution over the top of the weeds, and waited for a week.
Once again, the weeds had started to brown – slightly faster than the ones on the vinegar tile – but not particularly noticeably.
Verdict: 2/5
Works better than the white vinegar but still not very effective.
Wat-er hack
One of the most popular hacks to use on weeds is boiling water.
And the reason this is so popular is that it’s completely free.
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It works by causing “immediate and irreversible damage to the plant’s cells”, and is most effective on young weeds that have just made an appearance.
This is because it works by killing the roots – and those weeds that have really taken hold have thick roots, that won’t be affected by the water.
However, gardening writer Simon Akeroyd explained on Instagram that it’s still worth trying out the water hack.
“If it does manage to come back again it will be much weaker, and a quick second or third dose with boiling water will finish it off,” he said.
Simply boil the kettle, and pour the water straight over the weeds.
But be careful when doing so – especially if you’re wearing sandals – as the water could splash up on your feet.
Out of the three hacks I tried, I wasn’t holding out much hope for the water.
But much to my surprise, it ended up being the most effective.
While I left the tiles the same amount of time before checking the results, the weeds I hit with water were noticeably browner than the other two.
Verdict: 4/5
The most effective of all three hacks, and the cheapest. What’s not to love?