Eventually, with the rain, this poison would undoubtedly trickle down to the nearby streams where beavers and cattails live, kingfishers fish, and deer and fishers drink (I’ll spare you the full list of species I’ve observed in this wetland!).
In short, poisoning my haven is a no-no.
Test 2: Cardboard
I spread pieces of cardboard on the ground. It works great when you want to start a garden or flowerbed, so why not in my driveway? Well, for several reasons…
The pieces of cardboard fly off, no matter how much weight I put on them. And since I don’t have an infinite supply of cardboard, the surface area I’ve covered is laughable.
After a week, I removed the boxes with the intention of moving them to another area, but the plants underneath weren’t dead. They were stunted, but still alive. Two days later, they were as good as new! It’s true that a week is a short time, but hey, who wants to spend the summer with a cardboard driveway that flies off in the wind?
No, cardboard is not the solution…
Test 3: Boiling Water
A great classic for cleaning the spaces between tiles. A dandelion growing between two paving stones with a root too big to pull out? A splash of boiling water, and you’re done!
It’s a technique I love. You have to put in enough water to scald the root to the bottom, but it’s radical and fast. Especially for areas where weeding is difficult.
But once again, the sheer size of the project quickly made me give up. If I’d had a huge container to put on a campfire, which I’d only had to empty a few times, it would have been doable, but with my little three-liter kettle, I only scalded about a square foot. My patience has its limits, and after about twenty ducks, I realized that it would take about 5,000… and I didn’t have that kind of patience!
Test 4: Burner
Now we’re not laughing anymore. The laidback girl is fed up! Big words, big means! I got myself a torch. Then I torched the whole place MOUHAHAHAHA!
It’s a surprisingly effective tool. You have to let it burn for several seconds in the same spot to burn the roots, but the result is good. There are several points to consider, however:
It’s hot. It’s dangerous. So be careful. If you wear rubber boots, the soles may melt a little when you walk on the hot stuff. And drink lots of water: it’s really hot. You don’t do it during a heat wave!
It runs on gas. I take the propane tank from my BBQ and drag it with me. Ideally, you should put it on a dolly or something with wheels. And above all, don’t heat your tank with the torch!
It kills everything. Insects and bugs in the soil included. In the case of my driveway, I don’t think it’s such a huge sacrifice, but don’t think you can torch near your flower beds: your plants will suffer. You risk burning their roots, even their leaves, and upsetting the balance of the soil.
I have to admit that I haven’t done my full driveway yet. In fact, I did a bit last year and… I haven’t touched it again this year. It’s much too hot for that! And in the spring, it hadn’t grown yet. Nonetheless, it enabled me to see the long-term effectiveness: even though some plants have grown back since last year, there are far fewer of them where I’ve passed. In fact, you can clearly see the demarcation, judge for yourself:
Verdict
If, like me, you have an infinite driveway, with ground so hard and compressed that it’s impossible to weed, the burner is probably your best option, if you’re careful. Near flowerbeds, garden furniture, etc., prefer boiling water or hand-pulling. The burner is so hot that it makes the terrace paint boil: you’ve been warned!
Oh, and another tip… Leave your burner outside. It’s not dangerous, but when a neighbor calls the fire department, they’ll see it and leave before they even ring the bell… At least, that’s what happened to me!
https://laidbackgardener.blog/2024/...way-trials-and-errors-of-a-laidback-gardener/
