Need advice on getting rid of weeds

hoyles10

We seem to have become over run with weeds in the back garden and there's huge ones coming out of the gaps between the paving stones on the patio. Has anyone got any advice on the best way to get rid of these and kill them by using a method that wouldn't be harmful to our dog who has a habit of sniffing and trying to eat everything. I don't really know the first thing about gardening but want to try and start tidying it up a bit.

valk_scot

For the patio pull them up, use an old knive or a weed extraction tool to get the wee stubborn ones out. Then get a weed wand that runs on gas cannisters and go over every crack in the slabs once a week, to kill off any new growth.

For the rest of the garden there are plenty of weedkillers that are relatively pet safe, you really only need to keep the pet away for a few hours while the chemical is absorbed/dries out. Read the back of the pack. But ultimately there's nothing to beat digging them out by hand (with a garden fork and hand trowel) then either planting up the garden properly and weeding regularly, or putting down some good weed suppressing membrane and either gravel or bark chips.

Ash_McCloud

Pull out what you can grab with your hands, spray anything else with an 'own brand' weedkiller, and do it often before the weeds get to a noticeable size.

Also it might be an idea to get the cracks between the flags pointed, or sweep a dry mix into them

cyclonebri1

Zap 'em with glyphosate, keep the dog off for a day, do the same every month in the growing season.

Golden rule;
Do not let the boogars seed, remember the old adage?

"1 years seed, seven years weed", still so true today.

hoyles10

Thank you all for your advice, I'll get up what I can and put some weedkiller down just before we go on holiday and I like the idea of the weed wand. I'm going to come up with a plan to have a nice tidy, weed free garden ready for next year.

VfM4meplse

Can anyone recommend a dry weedkiller that I can brush into the driveway, and then lt the rain do it's work? I usually spray but there are far too many to deal woth that way.

I'm asking here rather than google as I'm hoping for a MSE (ie cheap) answer

babyblooz

My mum just pours boiling water over the cracks and then when the weeds have wilted down she drizzles ordinary table salt into the cracks. It works for her! Nice and easy and cheap!

VfM4meplse

babyblooz wrote: »

My mum just pours boiling water over the cracks and then when the weeds have wilted down she drizzles ordinary table salt into the cracks. It works for her! Nice and easy and cheap!

Good tip for a small area but sound s like too much hard work for my double driveway .

babyblooz

Whenever there is a bit of boiling water left in the kettle, out she goes and drizzles it over a different bit of the paving and over time, she has eradicated them completely. Its not a huge area but it has got rid of dandelions and they are quite deep rooted, so it does work.

Pop06

We had the same problem,my dad just purchased rosate 36 glyphosate its very good and cheaper than the stuff you get in garden centres. It's industrial strength so you duilute it and spray. We have dogs and as long as you let it dry before they go out it's fine.

cyclonebri1

Pop06 wrote: »

We had the same problem,my dad just purchased rosate 36 glyphosate its very good and cheaper than the stuff you get in garden centres. It's industrial strength so you duilute it and spray. We have dogs and as long as you let it dry before they go out it's fine.

I discovered that stuff recently, it's the dogs bolax