I had weeds cropping up all over my patio but 30p trick blitzed them for good – and it's safe for your garden

The Sun

2 days ago

A GARDENING fan has revealed a 30p hack for banishing pesky weeds from your patio for good.
With summer now upon us, and the Met Office predicting glorious days ahead, many of us are likely making plans to invite friends and family over for garden parties or BBQs.
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But before you have guests over to bask in the sun, you'll want to make sure your patio is looking its best.
The warm spring weather mixed with occasional showers has been a perfect breeding ground for moss and weeds to grow in between patio slabs.
The most obvious option to get rid of them is to pull them out of the ground, but this can be a strenuous and time consuming task.
Searching for a solution to her patio predicament one budding Gardener posted in Mrs Hinch Cleaning Tips, a public Facebook group with 537,000 members.
The post read: "Hi, does anyone know how to get rid of weeds between patio slabs?
"I think I have seen something about white vinegar. Many thanks."
The post was flooded with helpful responses from garden lovers, keen to share their purse friendly hacks.
The most popular recommendation was to use a cupboard staple, table salt, with some people suggesting adding washing up liquid and white vinegar.
One person said: "Big tub of cheap table salt is about 30p last time I looked.
"Dissolve it in some water and use that after you've pulled what you can up, then it goes straight to any roots... [they] stay away for ages."
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Another person said: "Salt and white vinegar.
"Tip is to do this on a warm sunny day, works a treat."
A third person said: "Salt. It kills everything.
"It's a safe chemical to use in your garden... but be careful."
What is a weed? And why are they important?
Simply put, a weed is a plant that grows in an area or space you don't want it to.
Rebecca Miller, Fabulous' Associate Editor, and keen gardener, explains why gardeners need to become friends with weeds.
"From nettles, buttercups, docks and dandelions - there are so many wonderful plants that are called weeds. And yet, as soon as the weather warms up, and we spend more time in outside, we want to pluck, pull and kill as many of them as possible, to make our gardens look perfect and pristine.
" Weeds are essential to our ecosystem - many are pollinators, providing food to bees, bats, beetles, butterflies, moths and wasps. And without weeds, these animals wouldn't survive past early Spring.
" Weeds also give back to nature - when they die and decay, their roots break down, feed microorganisms and insects, and make pathways and tunnels for worms. Bountiful life below means plentiful life above.
" Weeds are also brilliant indicators of soil health - which is important if you want to grow anything in your outdoor space. When microorganisms and insects break down weeds, they release essential nutrients into the soil that plants soak up. They also store nitrogen and carbon dioxide in the ground, creating cleaner air and removing greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere, mitigating the climate crisis.
"So before you pull out every weed in your garden, why not give a few of them a chance to grow and bloom, and see what enters your garden to enjoy the flowers..."
A fourth added: "Then, I got a gardening tool that looks like a wire brush with a long handle, and went over the cracks where they had been growing but were now brown and dried and got them out.
"Cheap and easy."
Salt is a great natural alternative to toxic weedkiller.
It works by increasing the levels on ions in the soil and increasing osmotic pressure, which means the weeds will be unable to absorb water and will dry out.
White vinegar works in a similar way, as the acidity of it breaks down cell walls and removes moisture from weeds.
Washing up liquid does not work on its own to kill weeds but improves the effectiveness of the formula by holding the salt and the vinegar on the weeds.