I have some natural tips to eliminate weeds for you, as well as other stuff.
Natural tips first:
Salt, water and vinegar will help to keep those weeds at bay. Below are several variations of ways to deal with weeds.
Vinegar is a good way to kill weeds. But it will also kill the plants you don’t want to kill. So be careful. Put vinegar in a spray bottle. Apply in the morning before there’s any wind to avoid blowing onto your other plants.
Vinegar is activated by the sun, so try to apply on a sunny day. Rain will wash it off, but hopefully not before you’ve killed the weeds.
You can also use boiling water to kill weeds. Pour water carefully onto the plant. Tougher weeds with long roots may take several applications.
Another answer is to bring a solution of about 1 cup salt in 2 cups water to a boil. Pour directly on the weeds to kill them.
Another equally effective method of killing weeds is to spread salt directly onto the weeds or unwanted grass that come up between patio bricks or blocks.
Weed Killer Mix:
To mix your own weed killer, combine dish soap, salt and vinegar. Add one tablespoon of dish soap and one cup of salt to a gallon of vinegar. Put into a spray bottle and spray on the weeds. It will also kill your plants, so again, be careful.
What’s wonderful about container gardening is that there are few weeds to have to deal with.
The Book I Just Read:
I spent yesterday at home with the pet babies. But I did finish a great book.
In this game, even winning can be deadly…
A diabolically entertaining tale of betrayal, deception, temptation, and love that’s filled with dark twists leavened by Joshilyn Jackson’s trademark humor. Never Have I Ever explores what happens when the transgressions of our past come back with a vengeance.
Two women square off. One is the blackmailer and the other is the blackmailed. One is on the run and the other has stopped running and lives a normal life with a great family.
I believe that this is Joshilyn Jackson’s ninth book. If her name sounds familiar, she wrote “Gods In Alabama.”
Proper Way To Deadhead Petunias:
Apparently I’ve been deadheading petunias the wrong way. I read yesterday that it is not just a matter of pulling off the wilted flower. Nature will eventually cause the flowers to wilt, die and drop off the plant.
Deadheading is the process of pinching or cutting off the flower and the developing seed head below it, where it meets the stem.
So the little green crown under the spent flower needs to go too. Learn something new every day.
Strange Weather:
I was just outside with Charlie tidying up my container gardens. It was bright and sunny. Then abruptly, I heard the sound of thunder.
It quickly grew dark, right while I was standing there staring at the sky. And then a torrent of rain began to fall just as I went inside.
I don’t think I’ve seen such a weather turnaround in that small length of time.
Charlie is laying next to my feet on the puffy recliner, his new favorite place.
Ivy has settled next to me. That won’t last long. She’s a busy girl. Snap your fingers. Yeah, lasted about that long.
Now she’s on the table next to my chair poking at me with her paws. If I don’t immediately give her attention, she starts to chew on the computer cord.
Now she’s zooming around the apartment, jumping off furniture and taking off at a dead run.
The wind is picking up so I should be hearing my bamboo chimes dancing just outside the French doors soon. That sound calms me. It’s so basic. So natural. That is the music I love to hear.
There they go. Clicking together and creating a sweet melody.
Soon I’m off to physical therapy. Who knows what the weather will be doing then.
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Awesome tips Brenda! Thanks for sharing these. I keep forgetting about salt! Love and hugs!
Hello. If you go to youtube and do a search on deadheading petunias you can find some videos. Here is a video that has some good information: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GvLgCL1d1Q
You want to remove the little ball that will hold the seeds because the plant will put energy into making the seeds rather than in producing more flowers.
I’ve used very hot water to kill weeds growing in the cracks of the sidewalk. Sometimes I’ve mixed in vinegar, but if I’m out of it, I’ve used just the hot water. For some reason I’ve never used salt, but it sounds like a good idea. But I wonder about the salt staying in the soil? I’ll have to look it up.
Thanks for some good information. If my little cat hears me running water in the kitchen or bathroom sink he will fly in and hop up to watch. He spends lots of time at different windows watching birds and squirrels. He has so much more energy than our other cat, who is a big snoozer. But I don’t think he has as much energy as Ivy!
Love reading your daily posts I’ve learned a lot of valuable information have a great day!
Thank you for all of the garden tips. I use vinegar and cinnamon all of the time. I have also read for an ant problem to put a small amount of corn meal where the ants are and they will carry the grains back to the nest and they will die, they can not digest corn meal. I have not tried it but will if the problem gets worse. Safe for animals.
Hope you are safe with all the storms around you. Just watching the news and that is all they are talking about. Hope Charlie and Ivy are ok, as my little Maggie was so scared when we would have a thunder storm.
Have a wonderful day.
I’m curious if any of the readers have ever tried the natural weedkillers on a large scale? As in a back pack sprayer for poison oak. We have about an acre and quite a bit of poison oak in some spots. I would love to kill it without roundup. And I’m glad to know I was actually dead heading my petunias correctly. Thank you! ?
I’ll be darned! I’ve been deadheading the wrong way, too! But I’m still not clear whether I should take the wilted blossoms off just below the little crown and leave the stem sticking up, which seems like it would look funny, or can I just pinch the whole stem off? But maybe the stem will just dry up and fall off after the blossom and crown is removed. Anyway, thanks for the tip.
Thanks, also, for all the natural weed-killing info. I have used vinegar before, but haven’t known about combining it with dish soap and salt. I’ll try that as I have plenty of weeds to spray!
Well, our weird weather continues here in lower Michigan. Rain, rain, rain and cold, cold, cold. The wetest and coldest May in memory. I have planted some annuals, but haven’t done much more except dug out a few weeds. But it’s so wet the soil just sticks to them and to the trowel. Where be the sun??
Take care and have a good week with your little furry babes.
Thank you so much for the weed killing tips… I hate chemicals. As always love your furbabies. Have a great week..hope therapy helped.
Praying you are okay and the bad storms do not hit where you are. Keep us advised!
Thanks for the Petunia tip ! I’ve been dead heading all wrong too ! Sweet pics of your fur babies. I know I have to keep making allowances for my spoiled kitties too ! Oh well.
I should have known all along it couldn’t be that easy! Deadheading is kind of a meditative task for me.
After reading your post, I carried my cinnamon spice jar out to the front porch and sprinkled cinnamon on the front porch ledge — ants have been visiting and they are not welcome. Thank you for the tip.
And it is absolutely amazing how versatile vinegar is. We use it to clean our kitchen counters and use it as weed control outside. I will be making a batch of the weed killer mixture that you presented.
The book you wrote about will be place on my To Read list — seems like a good “twisted” story.
Charlie’s little face looks like a heart — what a cutie. And Ivy looks as if she is looking for her next target.
Hope you have a wonderful Monday evening.
Seems I also read to wipe kitchen counters down with vinegar to deter ants. Have to look that up. Cinnamon will not kill ants. But they will not cross over a SOLID line of it. They will turn around and go the other way.
I love to read your Ivy antics – she’s such a little goofball, she certainly keeps you on your toes!! We had those storms yesterday too, and this afternoon we are in a severe storm warning. Possible hail, uh oh!! My seedlings that I planted out won’t like that!
I am worried about my plants and my patio.
Thank you for the deadheading information. I’ve actually wondered, as I lazily just pulled off the wilted flowers, if I should actually be pinching off the stem below the flowers. Now, I know!
Sherry in Little Rock
Hey, you were way ahead of us!
Love the use of natural things to kill weeds. It’s so much better than day Round Up now linked to cancer. Thanks for all the good timely tips.
I would never use Round Up.
My yard is literally all weeds, so I can’t spray it. 😉 However, I do use vinegar in a spray bottled for the weeds that crop up between the sidewalk cracks and by the driveway. It is cold here today – only 55 degrees – but will be 80 by Wed. We’ve had nothing but rain all month. And I heard on the news that we are forecasted to have a chance of rain every single day until the end of May! It’s been the weirdest weather month.
Yeah. Weird here too.
These weed-killing tips are so helpful, Brenda–thank you! The other day I noticed a large, quite arrogant weed sprouting up adjacent to our front door…and actually thought, “I know Brenda would know how to get rid of this naturally!” ?
Then these happened to be timely tips.
Stay safe today Brenda! OKC is a ghost town today! Schools closed, so many businesses closed all day or early!
I think they go overboard with this weather scare thing. I really don’t worry about it. Cause I’m not going anywhere to huddle where other people are. And there’s no place I even know about anyway. So I just don’t think about it much.
My fibromyalgia has kicked up the last few months. Thank you for the info on killing weeds and deadheading. I need for the time I am outside to count. If you have any fibromyalgia tips I would be happy to hear them too. Your blog is great and I enjoy each time I read it.
Sorry. I don’t have tips on fibromyalgia. So many suffer from it too.
It would be helpful to see a pic of where you will cut the petunia, with your tool of choice. It sounds like you mean cut the whole flower off, leaving just a stem. That can’t be what you mean.
There’s a little crown just under the flower. I just pinch it off with my fingers.
Hi, Brenda. What do you use to get rid of ants out of your pots? Thanks! 🙂
I don’t think I ever get rid of ants in my pots. But I sprinkle cinnamon in. They hate cinnamon. Just buy the cheap stuff.
I just read Ok is under tornado watch and for people to take precautions. That might explain the dark clouds and rain. Please stay safe. I really appreciate your tips. I live on an acre of land and we have to do weed abatement every year for fire. Just got it done this past wknd and it was $700. It’s a huge job. That’s why we do container planting.
So much easier for someone like me and so many others who have a lot of arthritis to just plant in containers. And that’s how people in wheelchairs can garden too.
Good info to know; thanks Brenda.
Stay safe, I hear there have been tornadoes in your neck of the woods.
Yeah, it’s still dark out. I don’t follow the weather here. I figure there’s nowhere I’m going except my bathroom or hall if it hits. So why worry about it.
Weather’s been wacky in N.Y. too.
It was pouring rain this morning early and now the sun is shining.
My daughter’s cat will start messing with her blinds if she’s not getting the attention she deserves…the zoomies are a daily occurrence here,Buddy manages to touch each piece of furniture at record speed!
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How on earth do they go that fast and are able to gauge just how far to jump?
Thanks so much for info on getting rid of weeds and the proper way to deadhead!
I truly learn something new everyday it seems.
Hope your physical therapy is helping. Thank you for the weed killer ideas, so much better than the ones with all the chemicals