Gardening could be so nice if it weren't for the constant weeding. Dandelions, daisies, goutweed, couch grass and co. grow everywhere and can't seem to get rid of them. With these home remedies, you can keep your garden as good as weed-free without any toxic substances.

Nothing beats simply pulling weeds

Table of Contents

Show all
  1. the essentials in brief
  2. Eliminate weeds in beds
  3. Weed removal on paved areas
  4. Remove weeds from lawn
  5. Prohibited Means
  6. frequently asked Questions

    7. the essentials in brief

    • Mechanical weeding is by far the most environmentally friendly way to remove weeds
    • Nettle manure is an effective home remedy against weeds, repels insects and strengthens plants
    • Weed growth can be restricted with the help of mulch (€239.00).
    • On terraces and stone surfaces, weeds can be fought with hot water or with a gas burner

    Eliminate weeds in beds

    As soon as the vegetable or flower bed has been cleared of all weeds and you stand up with a sore back, the unloved plants you just removed seem to grow back. So it's no wonder that many a desperate gardener prefers to use chemicals in the face of this Sisyphus task. But that is not necessary - and also not useful, since plant killers do not differentiate between weeds and useful plants - because there are some home remedies for use in vegetable and perennial beds that have no side effects at all.

    Mechanical weed removal

    You probably won't like reading this, but in fact weeding - ie mechanical weed removal - is by far the best method. However, you don't have to slip on your knees in the bed and spend hours digging up couch grass, because there are a few tricks that can make plucking them out much easier. This includes going into the garden immediately after a heavy downpour: the soil is then well moistened and so loose that you can easily pull the unwanted herbs out of the ground.

    Suitable tools against aching back

    With the right tool, you don't even have to bend down to do this, which saves your back. Choose garden tools with a long handle, so you can work standing up or sitting down. The following table gives you an overview of suitable devices.

    garden tool Look use
    sow tooth crescent-shaped tines with a ploughshare at the top, attached to the long handle soil loosening
    pendulum hoe double-edged, movable steel blade on a long handle Weed removal by oscillating back and forth movements, weed can be left as mulch
    garden hoe broad, single-edged metal blade on a long handle Weed removal between rows of plants or close to crops
    field hoe narrow, long metal blade on a long stem Removal of deep-rooted weeds, loosening of soil
    Shovel (Pullaxe) Metal blade with a slanting, serrated edge on a long handle Weed removal by pushing or pulling, soil loosening
    weeder Lancing device on a long handle, preferably with a T-handle and footplate Removal of root weeds

    mulching

    Mulch or hay will block the light from weeds

    Weeds only grow where there is room to grow: There is no bare earth in nature, as fallow land is quickly taken over by weeds and other fast-growing plants. You should therefore not leave any free space in the garden either, as unwanted vegetation can spread just as quickly here. Therefore, cover unplanted soil - for example between rows of beds - with a thick layer of mulch. This has several advantages: on the one hand, the mulch layer suppresses the growth of weeds, on the other hand, bark mulch and other materials also prevent the soil from drying out and you have to water less. Some mulch materials can also be used for surface composting and provide the plants with valuable nutrients. In addition to bark mulch (caution: this removes nutrients from the soil, which is why you have to add fertilizer here!) and bark compost, these mulch materials are also suitable:

    • lawn clippings
    • wood chip
    • straw
    • gravel
    • Green manure plants (phacelia, spinach, yellow mustard etc.)
    • shredded vegetable and garden waste

    Make sure that the applied layer is at least five centimeters thick.

    Versatile: nettle liquid manure

    Nettle manure is a real all-round talent in the garden, as it can not only be used to repel insects and strengthen plants, but also to combat weeds. And that's how it works:

    1. Put one kilogram of fresh, crushed nettles in ten liters of water.
    2. Use rainwater or well-stale tap water.
    3. Pour the mixture into a plastic bucket or earthenware pot.
    4. Do not take a metal container, as this will lead to undesirable chemical reactions.
    5. Place a grid or burlap cloth over the opening of the jar.
    6. Leave the fermenting manure to stand for at least four days.
    7. Stir daily.
    8. Stir a handful of rock flour or some valerian flower extract into the manure. This will mitigate the unpleasant odor.

    The liquid manure is ready for use when it has darkened in color and is no longer foaming. Depending on the weather, this is the case after about one and a half to three weeks. For the purpose of weed control, you do not need to dilute the manure. Simply pour or spray directly over the leaves of the plants to be eliminated. However, be careful not to spray neighboring crops and ornamental plants. The product should also not be used in the immediate vicinity of fountains or garden water - keep a distance of at least ten meters. If necessary, repeat the treatment.

    digression

    Ground cover in perennial beds

    In the perennial bed, weeds can be suppressed quite well by using ground cover - since the ground is already overgrown here, the little plants hardly have a chance to develop. The selection is huge, so that there is a suitable species for every taste and for every garden. This method is also good for underplanting trees and keeping these areas weed-free.

    Remove weeds from paved garden areas

    Flaming weeds is an environmentally friendly method

    What works well in the bed is not practicable on paved paths and areas such as the paved terrace or driveway. Here, heat or mechanical methods are the main help against growing weeds in the joints.

    • Hot water: Pour boiling water over the weed.
    • flaming: Burn the herbs with a gas burner.
    • high pressure cleaner: Simply rinse away the growth with a high-pressure cleaner (€119.90).

    The disadvantage of these methods, however, is that as a rule only the above-ground parts of the plant are removed. The roots, on the other hand, remain in the ground, so that the plants sprout again after a while and you have to repeat the treatment. On the other hand, mechanical methods of removal help, with which you can use a joint scraper or a knife, for example. Also, it may be necessary to refill the joints since the filler material has been removed.

    digression

    seal joints

    Prevention is the best way to keep weeds out of pavement joints: grout the stones with a sandy pavement joint mortar. This is permeable to water so that the surface is not completely sealed, but no longer lets weeds through. Joint sand or a synthetic resin mixture also serve this purpose, although the latter contributes to sealing the surface.

    This is how you get the weeds out of the lawn

    If weeds grow in the lawn, this growth clearly shows you one thing: The growth conditions are not ideal for grass, which is why other plants can spread. So here you have to get to the root of the cause very practically, because if you eliminate them, the weeds will also disappear.

    "It is most unfortunate that people refer to such valuable herbs as weeds, whose remarkable properties we are now gradually discovering." (André Voisin, author of numerous gardening books)

    The weeds show you what the soil is like on the lawn: for example, if you laboriously pull out the tough roots of the buttercup, its presence indicates compacted and damp soil. The same applies to indicator plants such as sorrel, herbaceous plant and plantain. They strongly advise you, as a gardener, to improve and loosen the soil with humus.

    Pioneer plants such as dandelion, sowthistle and ragweed also provide an indication of compacted and hardened soil, while wild mustard, black nightshade, stinging nettles and burdock bedstraw are mainly found on nutrient-rich soils with a high nitrogen content.

    The following article shows what causes moss in the lawn and how you can get rid of it:

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    Stay away from these homemade weed killers

    There are also numerous home remedies circulating on the Internet (and not only there) that hobby gardeners like to use to combat weeds. However, we would like to advise you against the following remedies, as these can be found in your household, but are by no means non-toxic or "gentle".

    • Vinegar / Vinegar Essence / Acetic Acid / Vinegar Cleaner / Apple Cider Vinegar: leads to acidification of the soil, breaks down only with great difficulty and quickly gets into the groundwater
    • salt / hydrochloric acid: Soil becomes oversalted, which also has negative effects on useful and ornamental plants
    • citric acid: similar to vinegar
    • magnesium chloride: Only use if there is a lack of magnesium in the soil, otherwise there is a risk of over-fertilization
    • laundry detergent: conventional detergents contain many toxic substances that kill soil-living microorganisms and therefore have no place in the soil

    In addition, the use of the above-mentioned products on areas not used for gardening or agriculture (i.e. on all paved garden areas such as paths, driveways, terraces, etc.) is prohibited by the Plant Protection Act anyway and can be subject to a fine. Although there is a court judgment from 2022 in which such a judgment was overturned, the courts are quite divided on this issue - regulatory agencies and chambers of agriculture continue to punish the use of vinegar and salt in particular on sealed surfaces.

    frequently asked Questions

    Why do I actually need home remedies when there are weed killers approved for the garden on the market?

    Just because a weed killer is approved for the hobby garden does not mean it is harmless. Most of these herbicides are based on ingredients such as acetic acid, pelargonic acid, etc. and are therefore extremely dangerous for you as well as for the useful and ornamental plants and for the numerous animals in the garden. Drugs like Roundup are also extremely questionable, as they contain glyphosate, which is considered carcinogenic.

    I've heard that baking soda dissolved in water also works to get rid of weeds. Is that correct?

    It is not the baking powder that works against weeds, but baking soda. Soda used to be the main component of baking powder, but today the small sachets usually contain the acidifying agent potassium bicarbonate. This has no effect on weeds.

    How else can weeds be combated?

    It is best to prevent weeds as much as possible by laying out weed fleece (€21.70) and black foil. Both can be easily installed in the bed and covered with fresh soil.

    tips

    Do not throw weeds on the compost and, above all, do not leave root weeds in the bed: if the plants are already seed-ripe or about to be, they can continue to multiply by self-seeding or sprout again from small root parts.

Category:

Herbs