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How to Keep your Brick Patio Weed Free
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Brick Patio Weed Control
In researching this article, I found one instance where a homeowner was
so incensed by the weeds in her patio that she set fire to them with a
blowtorch!
Luckily, several items provide better service as a weeding tool and
there are several better alternatives for brick patio weed control.
Of course, the best method of brick patio weed control is proper installation of your brick patio.
Start with an under-layment of pea gravel, topped by a layer of sturdy landscape cloth and cover with it with a layer of sand.
This will give your brick patio a firm footing as well as cramp the style of any weeds in the area.
Nevertheless, if your brick patio is already installed and running
rampant with weeds, here are some tips to help you succeed in to keep
it weed free without a lot of agonizing work.
First, to make your brick patio weed control plan a success, implement
your plan before weeds flower. This keeps weeds from going to seed and
helps make a short-term plan last for a longer time.
For the following tip and other tips that involve weed dousing of one
sort or another, use a piece of cardboard or scrap of Plexiglas to
protect nearby plants.
One of the best ways to kill a vegetable of any kind is to cook it.
Boiling water is a natural and very inexpensive weed-wilter and works
to kill most forms of annual weeds. It also kills or weakens many types
of perennial weeds.
A teakettle is your weeding tool. Fill it with water and bring it to a
boil. While you're waiting (because a watched pot never boils, you
know!) go outside and cut the culprits down to their crowns.
When the water begins to boil, grab the kettle (using a potholder) and
pour the water on the crowns of the weeds, holding the kettle high
enough only to avoid splashing. Killing weeds with boiling water will
also scald any biological organisms that get splashed, but more will
return as soon as the soil cools.
Vinegar will kill most weeds. However, grocery store vinegar is
normally a 5% solution and is too weak to do the job. Ten-percent
vinegar will kill most weeds and usually is found where canning and
pickling supplies are sold.
A 20% solution of vinegar kills really stubborn weeds, but is
frequently more than twice as expensive as 10%. Try to control the
weeds with the 10% before you make the investment in a stronger
solution.
Spray the vinegar directly on the weeds, using the shield mentioned
above and taking care not to inhale fumes. You may also want to wear
gloves and eye protection as a further safeguard.
In my experience these measures will keep all brick patio's free from weed without a lot of back breaking work.
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