Chemical-free weed killers

In trying to reduce chemical exposure for ourselves and our pets, we no longer treat our yard, flower beds and vegetable garden with chemical fertilizer or weed killers. I usually just pull the weeds by hand in my flower beds and vegetable garden, and our lawn is dense enough that weeds don't really have a chance to take root.

The one exception has been a strip of ground between our driveway and our neighbor's driveway that we call "no man's land." It tends to have large weeds with pickers that are difficult to keep under control without Round Up weed killer. Pulling them by hand is both painful and futile, so I went online to see if I could find a homemade recipe of some sort. I found the following suggestions: boiling water alone, boiling water with a small amount of rubbing alcohol, or boiling water and salt poured directly on the weed, and straight vinegar applied with a spray bottle.

I decided to conduct my own test on sections of the strip of ground, using each of these methods. The weather at the time was ideal for weed killing, as the temperatures were in the 90's with full sun. It has been two weeks since I applied these different solutions, and the only method that worked was the straight vinegar, and it worked moderately well. The other solutions didn't seem to bother these weeds one bit.

So if anyone has a good recipe for killing stubborn weeds, I'd really like to hear about it.

Chemicals and your lawn

In our part of the U.S. lawn maintenance and the return to mowing will soon be upon us. Many of us rely on chemical fertilizers and weed killers in order to have the perfect lawn. But a recent study found these chemicals present in 90% of children who play on these lawns. Is it really worth the risk to our children and pets just to have the greenest lawn?

There are safe alternatives available to you without giving up that great looking yard.

1) Consider chemical-free lawn food and weed killers instead.
2) Reduce some of your grass area by adding low maintenance beds with ground cover and mulch, or a water feature. I personally have areas designated just for wildflowers and ground covers, with the added benefit that they attract beneficial bugs and the bunnies prefer them to eating my garden vegetables.
3) Learn to live with some weeds. They are seasonal, some are actually quite pretty, and attract beneficial insects to your yard.
4) If the appearance of weeds really bothers you, consider hand-pulling or digging out the larger weeds. In beds, weeds can be killed by covering them with layers of newspaper anchored down. Over time, the weeds will be smothered.