Best animal-friendly weed killer?

Well aside from new land drains the only other new thing that's gone into my garden makeover so far is gravel!

We laid (or is it layed?) membrane first so now I'm wondering what advice you'd give for keeping any errant sneaky-peeking weeds under control? Shall I just get out there on all fours n pull em up? or is there an animal-friendly weed killer you guys might recommend?

I've got two cats let alone visiting cats then there's my snails (@Val.. ) so I'd rather not use something if there's a minute chance it could hurt any of those?

 

a good raking would sort out any weeds that are trying to grow in the gravel , as long as you have got rid in the soil before you put the membrane down should be easy to just to hand pull them out but that's depending how large your area is ?

Spruce

 

I don't think weedkiller harms snails, most people wish it was that easy!!

 

We used a mini digger to remove all the old grass first Spruce, but I didn't put any weed killer down before laying the membrane, mainly as I was a bit wary of using it cos of my cats.

We've only got membrane & gravel down on the front garden so far and that took 4 tonnes - and there's still the two terraces at the back to do yet - so that'll be about another 5 or 6 tonnes. So there'll be a fair bit of gravel to "maintain" in the long run.

 

I use boiling water to kill weeds that arnt near any other plants.

Works wonders on the patio and driveway

 

just thought how about one of these just have to keep that cats in ....

flame gun lots of different models

 

You don't wanna keep the cats in one of those

How about actually planting the gravel up with some low growing succulents or something that would form a mat to crowd unwanted weeds out?

These are growing on next to no soil in an old quarry.

 

I meant keep the cats in the house when using the flame gun

 

I know

 

Someone had a go at Bob Flowerdew for suggesting that on GQT

 

Ah why?

It works

 

It does, but they were concerned about the bugs in the soil.

 

Ahhhhhhh well tend to not put it on flowers beds unless its for bramble

Tough for the ones under the patio and driveway lol

I have been slacking with it on the patio this last few months as im getting a new one in a week or so. So the blitzing started today in prep for the new one.

 

Roundup (specifically the latest Monsanto formulations, not any-old-generic Glyphosate-based weedkiller). The Adjuvants it uses no longer carry a hazard symbol, and are suitable for use in aquatic situations (which used to be its Achilles-heel)

Spraying the whole of an area of path, just for a few weeds scattered about, is both excessive and expensive! so you might want to try a Hozelock Wonderweeder - totally unsuited to treating a large area with lots of weeds, but ideal where the weeds are sparse.

http://www.hozelock.com/spraying/weed-killing-applicator/wonderweeder-4182.html

 

Thanks everyone, with your help, there's a plan formulating in my tiny brain now

Now the moss that was carpeting my driveway has been removed, and its been jet-washed, there are just a few hardy weeds knocking about so maybe the boiling water thing would be perfect for the driveway as there shouldn't be too many bugs in danger hanging around on tarmac

This sounds perfect Kristen as there are only a few small weeds starting to appear through the gravel so maybe a regular rake and the odd spray will do the trick. As much as I'd like to play with a fire-gun!

We'll also be reinstating a pond in the back too so the aquatic safety factor is a point well-taken

I'm going for a "beach theme" around the pea gravel so I'm only planning to plant very sparsely with plants that are....well....beachy looking In fact, I'm on the hunt for an old unwanted wooden rowing boat to plant around so, if anyone knows of one in my neck of the woods, do please yell in my direction!

everyone