Outside, vegetation is trying to take over our property. Where possible — meaning where there are no plants nearby that I don't want to kill — I've been spraying high-acid vinegar on invading plants to keep them under control. It seems to work, and they say it won't harm people, animals, or the environment. You can see how the leaves on this invasive Saint-John's Wort turn brown and crispy after being sprayed with vinegar (vinaigre ménager is sold as a herbicide and as a cleaning product.
Meanwhile, we still have a lot of plants inside the house. Those we water to keep them unstressed and help them keep growing and looking nice.Today is market day in Saint-Aignan. Walt is going into town to get asparagus (green this time, if there is any), strawberries, artichokes, chicken sausages, and fresh bread at the open-air market. He says he might take some pictures while he's down there.
Ken, full recipe is.....
ReplyDelete5litres 14% (or above) vinegar
1cup of soft soap or washing up soap
2 tablespoons of salt
[there is usually enough room at top of the vinegar container for the two additions....
Add salt first, replace lid and shake to dissolve salt in the water part of the vinegar....
allow to stand for 20 mins and repeat... at end of second 20mins add soap solution, reclose container and rock it gently to distribute the soap solution [I use 3 x 10mins gaps between four rocking sessions]
And yes, it does work... watch the weather forecast and try and do it 3 to 5 days before next rain.... needs repeating at intervals.
I like it, even if the house surrounds smell like a fish&chip shop.
Excellent on gravel/stonechip paths
Your plants add a lot of beauty to your house and I love how you baby them ;-) I'm going to try the vinegar in our yard.
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm glad to see that you're using the vinegar method, because I never have, and I'd like to, also. We have a pea gravel and flat stones entry courtyard, and I just spent five hours weeding it the other day... and immediately, new green was popping up. It's funny that you mention the high acid vinegar... I had never heard of it until just the other day, when researching the use (in the mix that Le Pré de la Forge gives) of it for weeds.
ReplyDelete