Vinegar as Herbicide

Recently, a friend forwarded me a post from an excellent blog, A Garden for the House. It regaled the powers of vinegar as a weed killer. I’ve heard this before, but shied away from it, knowing that spraying vinegar on a weed might kill the weed, but will also sterilize the soil by sending its acid level through the roof.

But what about weeds that grow in places that nothing else need ever grow? Places like the gravel patch in front of our shed that is now more weed than gravel. Or the cracks in the driveway that so desperately needs to be re-paved, but will never be (No way am I wasting $10,000 on a driveway! We have four-wheel drive vehicles for a reason.).

A few of the blogs I follow are more pictures than words because sometimes pictures can say so much more. This week’s post takes inspiration from picture blogs.

My husband gamely created a vinegar sprayer for me (the strange lumpy thing is a pickle – I had to ask too.)

A patch of weeds in the driveway that has gotten so established it has to be mowed:

Same patch, one day after spraying it with vinegar.

Same patch, one day after spraying it with vinegar a second time.

A small patch of invasive clover newly sprouted on the driveway edge.

Same patch the day after spraying with vinegar.

Enough said. But remember – use vinegar carefully because it will kill weeds, but it will also wreck the soil. Stick to places like driveways and sandboxes.