No precise measurements, I'm afraid. Lots of vinegar, a scoop or two of salt, and a handful of borax. My mother liked to boil the vinegar, then mix in the salt and borax, and use it while as hot as possible. She had a lovely garden, and no, small quantities of borax, soaked into the soil, are unlikely to have any ill effects on dogs.
I expect it will turn out to be photographic paper than needs to be kept in the dark:-)
No. At the start I'd never heard of Japanese Knotweed, and neither had the village chap who I asked to rotovate the bed that it was in. That's when I discovered that I now had a billion plants instead of one. Still
- pressed on.
First step was to dig out the root ball and as much root as I could find, and burn it. That lot filled a wheelbarrow or two. After that, it was a case of roundup-ing every shoot that popped up. For seven years. But after that, there was no more.
covering with carpet for a year helps hugely. Steam & fire work, but the litte weedy burners sold for this are fairly hopeless. Mowing works against nearly everything except grasses. Etc.
NT
I suspect regular hits so that you drain energy from the tubers and never let any of its leaves or stems photosynthesise successfully. Even so it is a long drawn out way of attrition.
There is a patch near me being treated at the moment on estate land and also a more serious infestation in a park in Salford I know of that doesn't seem to be being treated at all. I suspect there are two forms about. One that is incredibly invasive and one that is just a thug.
I recall playing in the stuff like a jungle at wild end of the the big Victorian house garden near where I lived as a youngster. It is now a housing estate with no trace of the old rockery or the weed. It was certainly killed off in the pre glyphosate era - no idea what with.
Nope. All you're doing by mowing is removing top growth. True, there are some trees and shrubs which will eventually give up if continually cut back while young (when older all you are doing is coppicing them), but most plants respond with enhanced growth, especially if there are good reserves in their roots. A large number of native, low-growing plants evolved to avoid grazing, and do pretty well. And, let's face it, mowing is just speeded-up grazing.
Covering with a light-proof membrane of some sort will work. But if you have plants with an extensive root system which can be fed by growth outside of the blackout area, well, all bets are off. And don't forget the seeds which will be exposed once the membrane is removed...
I had a rose patch plus weeds, dug everything out, left a month then used glyphosate for any new weeds. Membrane from ebay then phoned a tree surgeon and got 1.5 tons of wood chip for £25. covered the lot. I just get the odd weed at the edges that glyphosate takes care of.
Bark is better for mulching but the wood chips are fine for me. I put an apple tree in the middle of it to take away the bare look.
So far so good.
Vinegar works well on the leaves and shallow rooted weeds. Weeds with deep tap roots will need repeated doses of vinegar when the leaves start emerging again after a week or so.
Some weed leaves (those with fine hairs) can shed water or vinegar and so straight vinegar doesn't always work. A wetting agent such as a drop of washing up liquid may help in these circumstances.
Buy the cheapest vinegar you can find. I paid around £4 for a 5L carton the last time and that was from a supermarket not noted for the cheapest of prices - a Co-op in a rural location. I would also advise if going down this route get one of those cheap pump up garden sprayers. If its only a small area recycle one of those hand spray bottles used for kitchen or bathroom cleaners.
No.
Boiled bleach turns into sodium chlorate
regular mowing is very effective at keeping lawns lawns, and turning weed patches into lawns. I'm sure if you only mowed once a year it would be entirely ineffective.
NT
Only if you get a lot of leaves accumulating on it. I did this to our village hall low maintenance patio garden as otherwise I would have been cutting the grass every week. The golden flint gravel ~10-15mm diameter covers most of the area with plum slate 30mmx20mmx5-10mm on the borders. The latter is noticeably more weed free than the golden gravel.
There might be the odd thing that grows. That blasted sedum for instance but anything that does seldom gets a purchase and will come out easily.
4" of gravel is also heavy enough that thistles can't punch through.
Could be a 'Don't try this one at home' situation though :-)
green concrete.
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Ask the community — no account required