How to get rid of weeds?

blackstar

Hi all

Please can I get some advice on how to get rid of weeds in my garden and stop then growing back? Ideally non toxic.

They are mainly in-between slabs.

Also my neighbour has a pine tree and loads of small pines drop into my garden and then start to grow so how do I deal  with them?

Thanks all

kempiejon

Non toxic - to me means mechanical. Pick em out.

EssexExile

Gardening, you have to do gardening. If there is dirt things will grow.

Flugelhorn

I use a thing like this - lots of brands make them - mine cost about £3.50 

LinLui

Sweep up / pick up the pines before they grow. 

Even with toxic weedkiller weeds will grow back eventually. So it's weeding as suggested, weedkiller or if you google natural weedkiller there are "easier options" than weeding, but most won't kill the roots / permanently remove weeds anyway. But neither does weeding. Weeds will always come back. It's only a question of how long it takes. It's only thing that you actually want to grow that are hard! 

FreeBear

EssexExile said: If there is dirt things will grow.

Doesn't need to be dirt. Weeds will grow in gravel - They just need a bit of moisture to sprout.

Emmia

Or the weed blowtorch is an option, if you want chemical free

Adjustable Weed Burner https://amzn.eu/d/0aOXYpBN

CliveOfIndia

blackstar said:

They are mainly in-between slabs.

How are the slabs laid?  What I mean is, is there a small gap between each one that's filled with mortar?  If so, one solution may be to rake out the old mortar and re-apply some fresh mortar - assuming the existing mortar has cracked, which would allow weeds to take root.

But as others have said, you'll never stop weeds coming back - short of concreting over the entire garden !

If you've got areas of gravel, then you can remove it and lay weed-proof membrane underneath it.  Even then, that's not a 100% effective solution, weeds will still grow in the gravel.  But it does at least restrict the growth somewhat and makes them easier to remove.

In places like flower beds then the only real option is to pull them up - though you could potentially lay some membrane just below the surface and make little holes to plant the plants you actually want.  And/Or put some mulch over the surface to help suppress the weeds.  Again, by no means totally effective, but it can help a bit.

The main thing when you're pulling the weeds out is to make sure you remove all the roots as well - not always an easy task, depending on what the weeds are.

Basically, you'll never stop weeds, but you can go some way to reducing them.  And if you go for the manual weeding option and remove all the roots, the weeds will gradually get less over the years, but it's a long job.

FreeBear

CliveOfIndia said: If you've got areas of gravel, then you can remove it and lay weed-proof membrane underneath it.  Even then, that's not a 100% effective solution, weeds will still grow in the gravel.

The weed roots will knit in to the fabric of any geotextile - When it comes to renovating the garden, this membrane can not be recycled, so ends up going in to landfill. The manufacture and disposal is not environmentally friendly, and we all need to try and reduce the consumption of plastics.

Hoenir

Keep weeding regularly. The more you do it the easier it becomes. 

Grenage

EssexExile said:

Gardening, you have to do gardening. If there is dirt things will grow.

This is the one and only answer.  I probably spend about an hour a week weeding.  There are no easy answers.