Most of us want a pristine looking garden without having to put in the hours of work to achieve it.
One of the most frustrating jobs is to painstakingly pick out the weeds by hand as we sit hunched over on our knees – only for them to pop back up again later on.
Weed barrier fabric can solve the problem but it can also be expensive to do, especially if you have a lot of space to cover.
But thankfully one woman has devised a cost-effective way to stop weeds sprouting up and shared the advice to the Home Cleaning Tips And Tricks group on Facebook.
Rather than forking out on expensive chemicals and fabrics, all you’ll need is a few old newspapers to get the job done.
Facebook/Home Cleaning Tips & Tricks)
She wrote: “Put newspaper over the dirt 3-4 pages thick and then cover it with mulch.
“The newspaper will prevent any grass and weed seeds from germinating, but unlike fabric, it will decompose after about 18 months. By that time, any grass and weed seeds that had been present in the soil will be dead.
“It’s green, it’s cheaper than fabric, and when you decide to remove or redesign the bed later on, you will not have the headache you would with fabric.”
The post racked up hundreds of likes as others thanked her for sharing the green-fingered hack and only wish they had found out about it sooner.
Top tips for getting rid of weeds
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However handy newspaper mulching is, sometimes we want to get rid of weeds in and around our beautiful flowers, without damaging any of the existing flora already planted.
There are a few other ways to get around these pesky weeds.
These include:
Vinegar – acidic solutions like vinegar are great at sucking the life from weeds, but they can also kill any pretty flower or shrub given half the chance. Experts advise that you cut a plastic bottle in half, place the mouth of the bottle over the weed in question, and spray the vinegar inside the plastic bottle – so as to prevent deadly spreading
Vodka – mix 30 ml of Vodka with 400 ml of water and a drop of hand soap. Soak sun-facing weeds in the solution and watch as the heat dries the weeds to a crisp
Soap – the oil in soap can damage the wires and hairs making them vulnerable to desiccants
Boiling Water – after you make a cup of tea bring your kettle into the garden and pour on your weeds. This is a particularly good way to get your driveway weeds
This content was originally published here.