Don’t fight the weeds, plant what you want in their place

Meet Mike in Chantilly this weekend.

Mike will appear at the Capital Remodel and Garden Show on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 25-26, at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, Virginia. Mike will speak at noon and 6 p.m. on Saturday and at noon and 2 p.m. on Sunday. Find out more on the show’s website.

“Newbie” in Alexandria writes:

“I’ve been searching for a responsible way to keep my very large, brick terrace free of weeds. All the advice I can find is about weeds in garden beds or lawns, not growing up between bricks. I tried pulling the weeds out by hand after a good rain but they keep returning.”

Nature abhors a vacuum, Newbie, and nature especially loves filling in those little spaces between bricks and pavers with her favorite plants, which might not be yours.

Forget hand pulling. It’s a never-ending battle that in the long term is just going to wreck your back and knees. But stick with the wet part.

Very sharp streams of water, such as from a pressure washer, should clear the area for quite a while by blasting out not only the actual plants but most of the soil and bits of schmutz down in the cracks that allow new weeds to germinate. And, it will keep the bricks nice and clean.

“You won’t believe what vinegar can do for you!”

“Newbie” in Alexandria continues: “I will not use Roundup to control the weeds in between my bricks. I have had some success with a homemade weed killer using horticultural vinegar, but the weeds always come back.”

Vinegars labeled “horticultural” have a much higher level of acidity than grocery-store vinegar — typically 8 to 20 percent acidity versus the store-bought 5 percent. Used during a hot and dry day, they are very effective at killing any plants they soak. But, they work best at full strength not in homemade mixtures.

And be careful! You must wear eye protection and keep children and pets away from the area while you’re spraying. Vinegar isn’t toxic, but you don’t want to get any in your eyes.

One of the newer, iron-based herbicides would be a safer choice, and iron-based herbicides are easier to find at stores and online. One catalog source, Gardens Alive, actually pioneered the product under the brand name “Iron-X.” Either way, look for the letters HEDTA or FeHEDTA as the active ingredient on product labels.

Is vinegar + cornmeal the ultimate weed-free recipe?

In “Newbie’s” final comments, he wonders if high-strength, horticultural vinegar followed by corn gluten meal might work the best. My answer is the one I was always told by consultants not to use back when I was the manager of a large staff of people: “Yes, but.”

Of course, I never learn; that’s why I’m so darned amusing… Ahem.

High-strength vinegar will kill existing weeds, especially in hot and dry conditions. Be sure to wear eye protection. Or, use an iron-based herbicide instead. A dusting of the correct amount of corn gluten meal would then prevent any new weed seeds from germinating for about six weeks. So if you want a head-on fight, this is a well-planned one. But I’d rather take a cue from The Champ’s famous Rumble in the Jungle and play Rope a Dope by planting those areas deliberately instead.

Weeds in walkways: Can’t we all just get along?

The essential problem for “Newbie” in Alexandria is that nature abhors a vacuum; and plants just love to grow in the kinds of tiny, little cervices he has in between his bricks, making virtually any “solution” an endlessly repetitive task. (As Ozymandias once noted, “All solutions are temporary.” Or was that the slogan for duct tape?)

Instead of fighting nature head-on, consider deliberately growing attractive and useful plants in those gaps. Two lines of branded plants are even sold precisely for this purpose: “Stepables” and “Jeepers Creepers.” I don’t name them, folks; I just report on them.

Some of these plants are sold as potential lawn replacements, but a good number are tough and low-growing, gap-filling wonders, including some that are fragrant when you step on them. You can learn a lot about your potential plant choices by visiting those companies’ websites and scrolling through their lists of plants.

Grow your herbs and walk on them, too

I’m going to drop back now and offer two suggestions for “Newbie” in Alexandria: Plant something you want in those crevices instead.

That’s two suggestions because one is to plant the slowest-growing grass seed you can find and then just mow the space down low a couple of times a year. This tactic works surprisingly well and can look great. It’s also the ideal solution for gravel driveways.

The other option is to fill the voids with low-growing perennial ground covers. I really like using low-growing herbs for this purpose, especially creeping thyme and lemon thyme (and other thymes and thymes again), as they release a pleasant scent when stepped on. I had this happen for me accidentally when some lemon thyme trailing over the side of a big half-whiskey barrel “self-seeded” an open space between two, big sections of our stamped, concrete patio.

Low-growing sedges and sedums — the latter the anchor plant of green roof systems — are also great. And there are many other choices out there. So, don’t fight the weeds; plant what you want in their place, instead.