Round-up for the Organic Garden?

Organic weed control that is just as effective as Round-up and costs a fraction of the cost? Too good to be true?

Weeds are always a factor to contend with for gardening and landscaping. While pulling weeds is the most organic option out there, often it isn't terribly effective, especially to get the roots which otherwise will just send up new plants. The product Round-Up is the probably the most common herbicide used, and though the manufacturer claims there aren't any harmful effects from it's use, I highly doubt it and it certainly isn't organic.

We are fortunate that someone in the past poured a huge concrete pad where we've built our raised beds and have most of our vegetable garden located. That said, we still deal with weeds in spots in the garden, around the garden, along our fences and throughout our landscaping. We do a lot of heavy mulching to suppress as much as we can but also need to weed from time to time or apply herbicide to kill unwanted plants that are harder to control.

We were delighted to discover, a couple years ago, a natural option - a natural and organic "round up" ready for use without any chemicals or ingrediants that we can't feel completely happy using in our garden. Not only do we feel fine about applying this where needed, it saves us a ton of money.

At our local grocery store they sell Round-up - a 1.33 gallon container costs over $27.00 with tax. Our "round up" costs around $5.00. We use a landscape sprayer found at the local garden center to apply it - that cost around $17.00

The recipe is simple - 1 gallon of vinegar to 1/2 or 1 cup of salt (depending on who strong you want the mix). We also add a few drops of dish soap - this helps "bind" the mix to some plants that it might just drip from.

That's it. Just link store bought chemical herbicide the plants will wither and die in a couple of days. Some more hardy plants - dandelions, etc - may need an additional treatment, but overall we've had great success using this.

Generally you don't want heavy salt in areas where you will be planting or harvesting vegetables, not because it is toxic, but it will hinder plant growth and in heavy doses can prevent it over time, so this isn't for your garden beds themselves.

Good luck and keep those chemicals off your lawn!