Gardening is all fun and games until you get some unexpected visitors in your tomato bed. Weeds are any plants that are considered destructive to your crops or the local ecosystem. These invaders put gardeners in a real bind, leaving them to decide how to eliminate the problem without eliminating their precious plants. Left unattended, weeds can steal water and nutrients from crops or suffocate their growth. To get rid of pesky weeds, you can whip up a natural herbicide with surprising kitchen cleaning items hiding in your pantry.
Mixing a solution of distilled white vinegar, borax (or salt), and dish soap works as a more eco-friendly weed killer than traditional herbicides. Distilled white vinegar is already great for keeping the kitchen clean and fresh, and it’s also a good idea to always have a cup of vinegar on your kitchen counter to neutralize strong cooking smells. But when it comes to weeds, its acidity, along with borax’s sodium, dehydrates the weed and prevents it from absorbing water. The dish soap works as a surfactant, stabilizing the mixture and keeping it attached to the surface of the weed without being absorbed by the plant. When mixing these ingredients together, the recommended ratio of a cup of borax or salt and a tablespoon of dish soap for every gallon of vinegar will do the trick. Use a spray bottle to apply the solution directly on the weed and repeat every day or so until it wilts.
Natural solutions for removing pesky weeds
Unfortunately, herbicides don’t discriminate between your crops and weeds. Anything you use to kill weeds can harm your plant life, and many herbicides can degrade the quality of your garden’s soil as well. Salt can cause droughts, and many traditional dish soaps contain ingredients that disrupt soil and plant health. This natural weed killer is just one of the least destructive herbicides you can make at home which is still effective. It’s important to spray your natural herbicide directly onto the weeds on a clear day, as wind and rain can spread the solution from the weeds to the plants. A controlled setting will keep your plants safer.
The best way to get rid of weeds is to remove them by hand, but not everyone has the time for that. Burning weeds through fire or hot water is probably the easiest and most eco-friendly method, but it involves the risk of potentially burning yourself so caution is advised. Pouring boiling water from an electric kettle will kill the weeds in an instant, and it’s useful for getting rid of smaller weeds lurking around, but it will also kill any parts of the plant that it comes into contact with. Burning weeds with fire is a classic trick from Mother Nature herself, but you’ll need a long torch and a bucket of water on standby — only use this trick if you have room to burn without the fire spreading to other plants. The right DIY weed-killer can help keep your garden looking breezy and bright.
