Cheap Tricks in the Garden
02.22
Vinegar is an inexpensive and environmentally safe weedkiller. I use this organic weed control for spot spraying. Use vinegar in gardens, along sidewalks and brick or stone patios. A small watering can filled with vinegar and water can target stray grass or dandelions in sidewalk cracks or the driveway.
Hand spray or carefully direct your vinegar filled watering can over unwanted vegetation. Vinegar works best on young plants but can control bigger weeds and grass. Bigger weeds require repeated applications. Use any inexpensive grocery store variety of vinegar to kill the weeds. The USDA study is reported at their website http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2002/020515.htm
Repeated spraying with diluted kitchen soap (a teaspoon of dish soap in a pint spray bottle of water) has helped control the insects on my tomato plants. Try it on one plant to see if it does more harm than good for your plants. Read University Of Colorado fact sheet number 5.547 at http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05547.html
July 2006
Patsy Bell Hobson is a freelance writer based in Missouri. For her, it's a great day when she can combine the two things she enjoys most: gardening and traveling. 