This past weekend I was working in my garden and my neighbor’s mother, Kate stopped by to check out my vegetable garden. She is from New Zealand and wanted to see what grew well around here. I was a bit embarrassed because my walkway around my raised beds had quite a few weeds growing. My philosophy is to dabble in the garden when I have time. Typically I pull some weeds right after a rain when they are easy to pull. This year we had too much rain which helped to multiply the weeds in Pittsburgh, PA.
Kate’s suggestion was a good one which was to smother the weeds with newspaper and top it with mulch. While last year I put landscaping fabric and mulch down, some of the weeds were growing over the top and in the spaces along the edge this year.
I searched on Pinterest for some more ideas. First, I tried spraying the weeds with just white vinegar on a hot sunny day, but I didn’t think this was too effective. Then I found the following concoction on Pinterest which I changed a little:
- 1/2 gallon of Apple Cider Vinegar (I used White Vinegar because it is cheaper!)
- 1/4 cup salt
- 1/2 tsp of Dish Detergent (I used Dawn Dish Detergent just because I like it!)
I am storing the mix in a plastic jug (an gallon of milk container that I cleaned) and transferring it to a spray bottle as needed. I would suggest spraying this mixture close to the ground on a hot sunny day with no wind! Just use it on cracks in your driveway or walkway and very carefully apply it in the walkway around your raised beds. Keep in mind that if you accidentally spray your grass or your vegetables, you will kill them!
After I am done spraying my vegetable garden walkways, I am going to apply either more mulch or small pebbles.
