How often do you put weedkiller down?

[Whycantistaymotivated]

We have a pebbled front garden with borders. The pebbles always get over run with weeds. Any recommendations?

Never. I don't believe in weedkiller - bad for the environment. Just weed regularly! Or turn it into a wild area, better for the environment!

Never, it's really, really bad for biodiversity... Bees, birds etc.
Please don't, just get out there and weed or find a gardener to do it for you. Or train your DC to do it.

Never.
Keep most of them for the wildlife here.
If it get's so there're more weeds than planned plants,I pull a few out.

Never. I pull them all up and compost them.

Never because only total assholes use weed killer.

Never.

My neighbours use weedkiller and they are baby boomer assholes, so I can vouch for that...

Ok, no to weedkiller then 👍

I will admit I do use weedkillers but selectively. I don’t spray but rather use SBK that you paint on. SBK I use on bindweed, ivy and docks. I use gel weedkiller on brambles which I rub on to each individual leaf.
Stuff like dandelion, creeping buttercup, willow herb and ground elder I hand weed. For the driveway which is block paved but the blocks that don’t fit tightly together so that it is porous I have a weed wand as the gaps are a magnet for weeds.

Never, I hand weed or don't.

Never now.And deeply regret using it in the past.I felt depressed in my local hardware shop today when I walked in and there was a huge stand of various weedkillers.Right now more than ever our precious wildlife and environments need all the help they can get,not obliteration.

Never. There was a recent court case in America that found weedkiller like R___p causes cancer.
It also never leaves the soil.
Personally I find weeds are wild flowers.

never
I would on very invasive plants (japanese knotweed type) but not 'regular weeds on a garden path.
pull them out or get a flame thower weeder.

Is there membrane under the pebbles?

I never use it. I have a paved driveway and scrape out what I don't want.
I think you can use either epsom salts or normal vinegar but best to check out the effects it may have on any wildlife.

Personally I can't bring myself to see most weeds as wild flowers, they are generally invasive and unsightly.

However in the dim and distant past when I have used a weed killer, I have found them rather useless. Prob why I don't now. They are selective in what weeds they kill, take weeks to work, and you're still left with the unsightly dead weeds to pull out. It is just pointless.

Hand weeding I think really is the only option op in this scenario.

Never. I hate dandelions but not even for them!!

Another here who doesn’t use weed killer. If you have a decent depth of pebbles with a weed membrane underneath you shouldn’t have any problems.

Yeah membrane is down but probably need to take pebbles out and put fresh down as it's been down for years.

Never
My Guinea pigs love the dandelions and I love that I'm not poisoning anything in my garden.
After a lot of heavy rain a few days ago there were hordes (well possibly 50) of snails out on the pavement practically scurrying around 😁
I said to my DC to step over them and leave them be, good food for the birds.

I'd like to know other options.
We have a new garden with plenty of weed infested pebble drives.
I simply can't hand weed. Cant keep up, they're well established.

What happens with weeds and weed killer is that yes it kills off some weeds but what grows back in it's place are stronger and more resilient weeds.

And then they get established and so on.

We have a small area at the front of our house, I swoe them off twice each summer and once in the spring. And pull out any that are in the soil when I get home from being out.

There are a myriad of tools designed for weeding, find one that works [which is why I have swoes, they work for me] and use them regularly. You can swoe under the pebbles, over the weed fabric and just let them die once sliced off.

Weedkillers pose a serious risk to health -- just google Roundup, lawsuits and cancer. Not to mention killing and sickening wildlife. You can use vinegar if you are that bothered about weeds. I saw a Youtube video where it worked really well.

Do you know what, a few years back I'd be the only one saying that weedkillers are bad, now everyone knows just how terrible they are - it's fantastic!

i once got hounded off a veg growing forum for stating that weedkillers are a terrible idea, for so many reasons. and I had about 10,000 posts. Hounded out by blokes. Of course.

We about to make the use of all pesticides and herbicides illegal in my town, towns around us have done similar.

You absolutely CAN hand weed. DH and I manage three very large estates (each house has over 5 acres) and just use vinegar and hard labour.

Don't be so fucking lazy. Can't abide weeds? When the bees all die off and there's no food you'll have no weeds either.