How to get rid of grass on the garden path

With the paving of the garden paths with paving stones, clinker bricks, various kinds of paving slabs and other similar materials, there always remain intertitic seams, which are covered with sand. After some time, between the tiles begins to appear grass, often spoiling the beauty of the tile laid out, and even in some cases, contributing to unsafe movement, so it is necessary to get rid of the grass by all possible methods when it first appears on the site, be it a path or beds.

Where do weeds come from?

In principle, weed is considered to be all plants grown without direct involvement of the site owner, and in the wrong place for them.

Reasons for the emergence of weeds:

• wind, spreading seeds over fairly large areas;

• birds whose litter includes a significant portion of the seeds;

• people carrying weed seeds on the sole of shoes;

• organic fertilizers used for top dressing of cultivated plants are also rich in weed seeds.

Thus, getting rid of the grass will never work. However, with newly emerging weeds, it is better to start the fight right away, until they fill the whole area. In this regard, the fight against weeds on the garden path must be carried out simultaneously with the destruction of unnecessary vegetation throughout the site.

Weed dependence on soil acidity

Each type of seed corresponds to a certain acidity of the soil, necessary for germination and further existence. Seeds, hitting a favorable environment for them, eventually start to germinate. At the same time, another category of seeds is transferred further or remains in the soil, waiting for a change to a level of acidity more suitable for growth.

In this regard, it is easy to determine the soil type by growing weeds on the plot:

• is a strongly acidic or acidic medium ideal for the propagation of horsetail, plantain, creeping creeper, rough humpback, etc.;

• weakly acidic and neutral soil is ideal for woodworm, corn cob, shepherd's bag, crocheted fork, clover, sow, bearberry, etc.;

• is a slightly alkaline medium suitable for white, poppy and the like drowsiness;

• alkaline soil promotes the rapid growth of nettle, wormwood, quinoa, rape, alfalfa, etc.

For a more reliable determination of the degree of acidity of the soil, one can use the folk method:

• to take 6-7 currant leaves;
• boil distilled water;
• pour the leaves and cool;
• dig a hole 10-15 cm deep in the area where it is required to determine the acidity;
• omit a lump of soil taken from the bottom of the excavated fossa into a cool solution;
• trace the color of the solution.

The reaction shade corresponds to a certain acidity level:

1. Green is neutral soil.
2. Blue shade - slightly acidic soil.
3. Red is a high level of acidity.

If the soil corresponds to an acidic environment, along with the immediate onset of weed control, it is worthwhile to deoxidize the soil to a neutral composition, since it is the acid soil that becomes a hotbed of hard-to-remove weeds with a developed root system and high resistance to most chemicals. In addition, the acid soil becomes the root cause of a poor harvest.

Soil deoxidizing agents

Increasing the yield of a plot and partially removing the grass inherent in an acidic environment can be achieved by bringing the soil to a neutral state. The following tools are used for this:

• hydrated lime;

• dolomite flour;

• crushed chalk;

• wood ash;

• peat ash.

To avoid damage to cultural plantings, deoxidation is best carried out in autumn after harvesting or early spring. At the same time, any of the means is embedded in the soil to a depth of 15-20 cm. The dose of application of a given composition depends on the level of acidity of the soil. On the garden paths, stitches are simply sprinkled with a small amount of borax or table salt, which after penetrating the rain will penetrate deep into the structure of the interlace seam. After 1-2 years the soil will acquire a neutral composition.

Weed control methods

Along with bringing the soil to a neutral composition, one of the following methods will help get rid of the grass on the site.

Mechanical method

Quite a laborious but necessary method, including:

• Dumping of soil is carried out by shovel or pitchfork in late fall or early spring. However, the use of a fork when forking is the preferred option, since the roots at the depth are not cut, as in the case of using a shovel. In the process of work, all the roots are collected in one container, and upon completion of the digging are burned, which prevents the emergence of new weeds through vegetative propagation.

• The implementation of periodic weeding by hand or the hoe occurs as the grass grows. The main thing is to remove the weeds until the ripening of the seeds, preventing an even greater occurrence of weed grass. At the same time, weeding the moist soil gives better results, as the roots of small plants are completely removed from the ground. In plants with a developed root system, it is possible to capture the root deeper, thereby undermining its immunity to rapid germination. Removing the roots by weeding gradually weakens the weed and negates the chance for the subsequent sprouting of new shoots.

• Hilling, loosening allows you to remove newly germinated weeds, deepen the seeds brought in, preventing their emergence.

Biological method

This method consists in mulching the soil, i.e.covering the necessary surface of the earth with breathing or preventing materials from entering the oxygen.

The use of sawdust, straw, compost contributes to moisture retention in the soil, regulation of the temperature around the plants, nutrient enrichment, and soil acidity control, although many weeds can penetrate even through the mulch layer of 10-15 cm.

Shelter, black film or newspapers, prevents access of oxygen to the soil, creating a "greenhouse" effect, in which practically all the weeds and their roots die.

Nontraditional methods

Before deciding on the use of herbicides of different effects, you can use folk remedies to get rid of the interfering herbs. The most common are:

1. Heat treatment. Most plants die when watering them with steep boiling water.
2. Treatment with acetic essence consists in applying vinegar on the leaves of the plant with a brush.
3. Alcohol treatment. Mix ethyl alcohol and plain water, keeping the ratio 1:10.Spraying plants can be throughout the year.

The chemical method of

The essence of the method consists in spraying malignant plants with chemical preparations using the following treatment methods:

• Selective actions, for example, Lontrel-300D, Etisso Rasen Vital UF, affect individual plant species. Herbicides, accidentally hitting on cultivated plants, decompose to non-toxic compounds, excluding the negative impact on useful vegetation.

• Solid action, for example, Roundup, Tornado, Hurricane Forte, destroy all plants that have fallen into the area of ​​treatment with herbicides. In this regard, the chemical preparations of continuous exposure are used in places devoid of cultural plantations, and depend on the plant species.

The principle of the destruction of undesirable vegetation by herbicides is as follows:

1. The chemistry that has entered the leaves of the plant moves along the stalk into the roots.
2. After 1-1,5 weeks leaves of weeds begin to turn yellow.
3. Within a month the plant completely dies.

However, when processing herbicides, to achieve a positive result, it is necessary to take into account some of the features:

1. 3 weeks before the treatment, the plants should not undergo any other method of weeding.
2. The weather should be clear, windless, while the leaves of the necessary plants need to be slightly moistened or carried out after the rain.

However, chemical preparations should be used with great care, because the poison, destroying the weed, in small amounts still falls into the soil, while killing useful bacteria.

Thus, when choosing one or another method for the destruction of an undesirable plant species, it is worthwhile to learn some of the biological properties of this weed.

Methods for the destruction of certain types of annoying plants

Mokritsa

Many people grab at the head when several shoots of the wood grass grow: how to get rid? This is not surprising, because the process of maturing seeds occurs in just 1.5 months, having time to give several generations for a relatively warm season, and one such plant can throw up to 2500 seeds at a time. In addition, the seeds of the lice are quite resistant to severe winters, so the first shoots of grass appear with warming. In addition to seeds, the mackerel breeds easily through the nodes located on the stem.

Measures to get rid of woodlice:

1. Carry out soil deoxidation to a neutral composition, since an acidic medium is needed for the icecream.
2. Reduce to a minimum the moisture content of the locus of the woodworm, as it likes strongly moistened soil, and a too dry environment helps to destroy the weed.
3. Timely weeding that prevents seed ripening.
4. Destroying the weed weed through off-site burning.

However, the seeds of the lice are perfectly kept in the ground for 25-30 years, so if there are conditions favorable for its growth, the annoying grass will again be looking around the site.

Birch

Similar to a barnacle, a stormy reaction from the owner of a private plot is caused by the sprouted grass shoots of the birch tree: how to get rid? In contrast to the lice, the optimal place of growth of birch - dry, slightly acidic soil. A great advantage of the adaptability of this plant to various weather conditions is the location of the roots at a depth of 3 m. When the top of the bindweed is destroyed, new buds are formed on the roots, so that the weed again begins to germinate.

Control measures against birch:

1. Application of soil deoxidizing compounds.
2. Digging with the most careful removal of roots.
3. Periodic weeding, contributing to the gradual depletion of the weed root system.
4. When a large birch plot is damaged, it is possible to sow mustard seeds and the weed will eventually disappear.

The destruction of a birch, like any weed, is a temporary occurrence. When the birch trees, which coincide with the soil favorable for their existence, are entered on the territory of the seed plot, it will reappear and it will be necessary to start the fight first.

Lawn grass

Compared to a birch, a moister can be much easier to get rid of lawn grass, since the root system of this grass is rather weakly developed. In addition, lawn grass requires a weakly acidic, moistened soil, so the gentle grass without periodic irrigation itself will die with time.

Lawn grass eradication measures:

1. Creation of alkaline soil composition.
2. Mulching by covering with black film.

Moss

On many garden paths moss is quite common. The path covered with moss has an unesthetic, unattractive appearance. In addition, on such a path it is easy to slip, especially in wet weather.

Causes of moss formation:

1. Poor drainage.
2. Shadow.
3. Constant exposure in humid conditions.

Control measures:

1. Treatment of the site with a solution of table vinegar diluted 1: 1 with water.
2. Improvement of soil drainage.
3. If possible, provide access to ultraviolet rays, for example, pruning branches of trees.

If you do not eliminate the causes of moss, then with any method of processing it will appear again, so when improving the path, you should initially take care of the good illumination of the place chosen for the track.

Thus, it is difficult to get an unambiguous answer to the question: what is the breeding ground for weeds in the garden, how to get rid of it? The variety of traditional methods of combating various kinds of weeds, along with folk recipes, opens wide opportunities for conducting their own experiments. However, any weed, with a favorable coincidence of the conditions of existence, again favors a suitable piece of land for him, so you should always be ready for a second battle with unnecessary vegetation.