Driveway weeds

[tittysprinkles]

We bought our first house last year and it has a block paved driveway. It is full of weeds in between the cracks. Any suggestions as to how to get rid of them and stop them returning? I understand block paving is prone to this problem but we have no intention to replace it any time soon as there is still a lot of work to do on the rest of the house which takes priority.

Any food glphospate based weed killer. Roundup, evergreen extreme (black can) and many others. Once dry (20 minutes or so) they are safe for animals and kids. Spray it on the leaves and leave it for a week, it doesn't remain in the soil so if you cut them down and spray it won't be very effective.

make it a pocket money job! Our drive needs weeding about 6 times a year (once a month over summer), takes about 45 mins each time. Much quicker when you keep on top of it. Also use one of those flamers as we don't use weedkillers and it works pretty well

Salt. Not posh salt just that stuff that melts ice.

It's because it wasn't laid properly unfortunately. I didn't want to have it done as I kept seeing neighbours struggling with the weeds. If the foundations are laid properly and enough hard core is put down you don't get a problem. I was sceptical but we've had it down for 2 years with no issues and 2 friends who uses the same company don't have any problems either.

My neighbour uses weed killer spray then goes over it with a long handled tool specifically for in between cracks.

Yes I suspect it wasn't laid properly. A lot of the outside work that we've inherited is a bit shoddy eg wrong bricks being used for walls so they get frost blown etc. Is it worth filling the cracks with sand or any type of sealant?

I would like an excuse to get a flamethrower though!

The gaps should be filled with sand anyway. I bet there probably is something you can buy but honestly a quick spray with weed killer will do the job.

I would use a weed burner, best investment we ever made. Takes seconds and is an instant result. Xx

A weed burner sounds fun

We use round up in a watering can, then leave it two weeks. At this point the leaves have started to shrivel and you know it's got right into their system. Then burn the tops off with the flamethrower. They don't come back - we did the front last year and it's totally clear this year

Boiling water will help and is much kinder to the environment than roundup. The chap on R4 gardening prog pours leftover boiling water from potatoes etc down the gaps to keep the weeds down!

weed burner - quick, easy, deeply satisfying.

Thanks guys! I think I'm going to go with the weedburner option! I don't usually have any principles about things but I've decided to go organic when it comes to the garden so I'm trying to avoid weedkiller. Toasting the weeds looks like good fun. Do I need to brush sand and salt afterward or will the weeds come back anyway?

Boiling water will kill the weeds, then one of those wire brush scrapers to remove them.

Glyphosphate etc. is really nasty and will kill any bees or other beneficial insects in the vicinity for a good while to come. It also will not stop the weeds from returning.

We go over ours a couple of times a year with the long handled thingy. Apparently there something that is laid underneath before the drive is laid to prevent weeds, but it doesn't last forever.

Each to their own, there are many effective remedies but glyphosphate is fairly harmless once dry so shouldn't effect bees and insects badly.

Weed knife. I wouldn't use round up

As others have said glyphosate or weed flamed to kill and the fill the gaps with brush-in patio grout. It comes in buckets in a few different colours and you brush it into the gaps dry. It then sets hard