Easy Walkway Weeding

Many homeowners have walkways on their property. Walkways provide a safe and attractive way to get from one place to another. But often walkways lose their appeal when they become infested with weeds. When weeds begin to sprout up between paving stones or bricks they not only look bad, but they can also be a safety hazard, causing people to slip and fall. Anyone who has tried to rid their walkway of weeds the old fashion way, which is basically getting on their knees and pulling the weeds out by hand, can attest to how labor intensive that chore can be. Thankfully, there is a better way to clear those weeds out.

For homeowners who want an organic and all natural solution to this problem, here is a, well, solution for those nasty weeds. It is called vinegar.

Buy a gallon of either apple cider vinegar or white vinegar and pour it into a spray bottle. You can use the store brands if you wish for this project and save even more money. Generic brands will work just fine. Do not dilute the vinegar with water or any other substance. It should be used full strength for weeding.

One caution here: If you are going to use an old spray bottle, a bottle that had some other chemical in it, make sure that you wash the inside of the bottle thoroughly. You do not want to mix certain chemicals with vinegar as it may produce harmful vapors. A good rinsing out is all that you need to do. You can, of course, buy new spray bottles. The choice is up to you.

When you have your spray bottle filled with vinegar, take it out to the walkway and spray the liquid onto the weeds. Spray it directly onto the plants that you want to get rid of but avoid spraying it onto plants that you want to keep. Cider and white vinegar are both very good herbicides and they will kill most plants and weeds, including those that you want to keep! So be careful and take good aim.

It will take only a day or two before you see results. What normally happens is the weeds will begin to turn brown and become dry and crusty. Once they are dead, you can use a broom to easily sweep any that have not blown away.

If you wish, you can also use vinegar to control the grass that comes into contact with your walkway along the edges of the pavement or stone. This will kill off the grass as it did with the weeds but do be aware that you may end up with a brown line going down the edge of your pavement. To minimize this brown line adjust your spray bottle so that it shoots out a fine line of vinegar, just enough to do the job without spreading out too far from the edge of the pavement.

As mentioned above, you truly do need to take care to avoid spraying any flowers or plants that you wish to keep healthy. If you do happen to spray something by accident, quickly rinse the plant with fresh water. This will usually prevent any damage from occurring. One tip is to do your vinegar weeding on days when the wind is not blowing not hard.

After you have sprayed for weeds, do not water or rinse the area that you sprayed for at least two days. Hosing down the area or even rainfall will wash away the vinegar.