The best part of being a green cleaning coach is that people share all their green tips with me. Yesterday, my son was pulling weeds out of cracks in our parking lot and Marilyn said "Hey green lady, why aren't you having him use vinegar to kill the weeds?"
Vinegar, on weeds?
Yep, just a spray bottle of white vinegar - sprayed right on the weeds will give you a green weed killer! Wow, how easy is that and it's so safe a 5 year old can do it!
Another safe and fun job for summer :-)
Here are the details of vinegar as a weed killer:
1. Vinegar works best when used in full sun.
2. It won't kill the roots, just the leaves.
3. Use a little dish soap with the vinegar and it will work better.
4. Vinegar can change the pH of the soil.
5. Results are very unpredictable.
So we filled up "little guy's" squirt gun with vinegar and let him go out and kill a few weeds. It worked overnight and it was safe for him and the environment!
I love learning new things!
I use boiling water which kills the roots and everything.
ReplyDeleteI feel like it would take me forever to get rid of the mess in my yard. What would you recommend instead of sprayer to cover a large patch of unwanted plant life?
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to try the boiling water. My parking lot will be steaming!
ReplyDeleteJayne,
ReplyDeleteYou could try a large pump sprayer that would hold 5 gallons of vinegar. I'll keep thinking and we will hope others will comment on their ideas too!
Good idea ~ thanks for sharing. I will try the vinegar and if I don't get desired results - I'll boil them!
ReplyDeleteI was the lucky winner of a Green Clean Starter Pack. I can't wait to try the blue cloth on my windows. And I'm super excited about a sponge that "melts" soap scum away. The book I received "The Joy of Green Cleaning" looks to be most helpful. Lots of tips and recipes for cleansers. Oh, I have some dust to try to green dust cloth on. We happen to live in a dusty area. I will drop back by and tell you the results of my labors.
Thank you, Leslie for having such a great giveaway. I'm so happy to have been selected as the winner!
I have been meaning to start learning ways to clean green! This is such a cool and needed blog!
ReplyDeleteThanks Faith,
ReplyDeleteLet me know if I can help you in any way! We try to make cleaning fun!
great tip - i hope to use it soon!
ReplyDeleteI just learned a ton about the unhealthy side effects of pesticides, even organic ones. So thank you for the great tips!
ReplyDeleteFor more on the health implications of the food we consume and the products we buy listen to this clip: http://www.morethansound.net/samples/Ecological-Awareness_in_15-minutes.mp3
ReplyDeleteIn the first section, Daniel Goleman talks with Dara O'Rourke, creator of Good Guide, a system that allows users to select products based on their health, environment and ethical implications. Also be sure to listen the last part, where Goleman talks with Michael Lerner about the connections between personal and planetary healing. Find out more about the series at morethansound.net