Home Made Herbicide

It was bound to happen, since I haven’t used commercial weed killers in my back yard for several years.  I’ve never minded clover and the occasional dandelion, but during the past two weeks, my back yard has been taken over with a plethora of uninvited plants: thistles, quack grass, spurge, chickweed, etc.  It seems the weeds have spread the word that my back yard is the place to come and thrive, safe and non-threatened.

One of the offending thistles.

Honestly, if I were in the country, I wouldn’t mind most of these more aggressive plants. With the appearance of thistles by the pool steps, however, (ouch!) and the re-emergence of a most unwelcome poison ivy vine next to my kitchen window, I decided to search for a remedy that would end the silent takeover that has been slowly spreading throughout the summer.

A friend of mine gave me a safe and simple weed-killing
 recipe to try on my worst offenders.

Two days ago I mixed the inexpensive ingredients together and walked around my entire back yard, spraying the solution on thistles, crab grass, dandelions, and the poison ivy vine.  It was nice to know that what I was applying wasn’t toxic to wildlife, though I noted that my back yard smelled like a salad for about a day.

One day later, every plant I sprayed was showing signs of dying. 

2 days after with the homemade herbicide

  
Two days after application, (today)
 they look even worse and the thistles,
which I have been fighting all summer, look
completely dead.  Even the poison ivy is shriveled up!
 I am curious to see if re-growth occurs but so far I am really
 happy with the results, so thought I would share the recipe  
 with my readers!
 Here it is!

 Home made, safe weed killer.

1 gallon vinegar

2 cups salt (I used Epsom’s)

¼ cup liquid soap  (I used dishwashing liquid)

Mix it all together, put it in a sprayer, and apply to any unwanted plants-over leaves and down at the root.

Spray directly on the soil where you want no growth.  For me this was the area around my pool, and the sitting area in my back garden.

Hope it works as well for you as it did for me!