Vinegar is a fantastic weed killer. It is non toxic, biodegradable, readily available, and it is cheap. Go to your local grocery store and purchase a gallon of white vinegar. It usually sells for... around $3. You can find a heavy duty squirt bottle at your local garden store. I recommend buying a good one, as the cheap ones do not last. For a few dollars you can buy a quart sized bottle that should last at least a year. Fill up with straight vinegar, do not dilute. Use this to spray directly on weeds that you want to get rid of. Some pesky buggers may require 2 or 3 applications.You can also use this in place of bleach. I have a couple spray bottles and have one in the garage labeled weed killer, another under the kitchen sink labeled disinfectant.
It works well, its cheap, and its all natural! You will not be poisoning the earth, risking cancer, or supporting Monsanto! WOO HOO!!! :)
Just one little problem....IF you are in a place that has a fair amount of alkaline in the soil, this works fine (those pesky thistles and such love alkaline soil), BUT, for those of us who have ever spent time in the NE, it is an absolute disaster, because there, the soil is already acidic. If you take this approach, make sure you soil test (and if your soil turns acidic you may need to do what farmers and gardeners all over the NE do, add things to make it more alkaline, like lime). Weeds like dandilions don't care and still thrive in acid soils. I am not defending weedkillers, just saying this is NOT as simple as it sounds. All gardens do best with attention, and catching things when they're small...spray it and it's done, regardless of what it is, can only work for a very short time.
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