How do i stop grass from growing into my garden borders? Right now, i have bricks that separate the grass from the borders but it still seems to get through.Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

what i did was just keep pulling the grass out and lay down some mulch. takes a while, but i did win this shirmish. peace be with you and may your garden grow.

What I do is pour baking soda along the edge of the bed (on the grass side) in a strip about 6 inches wide. Within about a week the grass will die and it will stay that way most of the summer. If you have a cattle feed and grain store nearby, you can buy it in 50 lb bags very inexpensively (it's a feed supplement for cattle).

Good luck!

Does baking soda kill other plants/weeds also? Is it bad for the soil in large quantities? I'm thinking of grass and weeds that are growing in between a brick pathway and also a big patch of weeds that I'm really not looking forward to hand pulling.
Interesting concept-

I've had good luck using a spray of vinegar, or vinegar/water... spray it on a non-windy, warm/sunny day and it will kill the foliage you get it on. Careful doing this around plants you want to save so you don't get any on them, however...

Kim

Zactly. In fact, I put a teaspoon of salt in the water, then add 50% vinegar. Works for nutgrass and similar tough stuff in between paving stones.

John

Hi John, does the salt you add just help to dry things out more quickly, or is there another reason to include it? (I'm just always curious about the chemistry/science behind these things... I like to store it away to help me later...)

Kim

Hey Kim!

The salty water acts as a surfactant (makes the thinner vinegar stick longer to the foliage so it can disrupt the cells)

Salt in large doses is not good for soil but we're talking cracks in pavement here, so you don't WANT to feed the soil there.

John

Another question-

Will the vinegar solution also kill the MOSS thats growing on the surface of the bricks? I would just love to kill two birds with one stone.

Think I should just use plain, white, buy-it-by-the-gallon, vinegar? Or my husband's organic balsamic vinegar? (Har, har)

Sadly, no. To kill off moss you need a chemical, zinc sulphate. You could try a hard scrub brush with tsp (tri sodium phosphate) in water but use gloves! Presoak, let stand for 5 minutes and then scrub or use a hose.

As for vinegar, I use what's on sale. No name, Heinz, whatever, it's all basically the same stuff.



John

where do we get the stronger vinegar? it's suposed to be a spray that's stronger than the standard sotre bought.... right?

All baking soda does is neutralize the soil ph so nothing will grow there. The effect doesn't last long though, so probably by the end of the summer you'll need to re-apply it. I've never had it kill/alter any nearby plants. It basically just affects the soil on which it is poured. Got this information from one of the big wigs at Arm and Hammer....says he's used it on the cracks in his sidewalk and driveway for years. Of course he probably gets an employee discount which makes the small boxes more economical for him! I buy 50 lb. bags of the stuff at our local farm feed store....sodium bicarbonate (it's made by Arm and Hammer also) is a food supplement given to cattle to keep them from bloating. I think I paid $9.00 for a 50 lb. bag - and it goes a long way.

Hope this answers your questions!

Janet

Hi kim,

Thanks for the advice on the vinegar. I'm also looking into a fast and safe way to kill grass to make way for a future deck. Will the vinegar solution work for that as well or do you have any other suggestions?
Thanks,

Mindy

> Hi kim,
>
> Thanks for the advice on the vinegar. I'm also
> looking into a fast and safe way to kill grass to
> make way for a future deck. Will the vinegar solution
> work for that as well or do you have any other
> suggestions?
> Thanks,
>
> Mindy

Kill moss on decorative border bricks? I love the look of moss on brick.

Is there a problem with moss on brick.. will moss break brick apart or something? Please advise...