Banishing weeds from your gravel paths has never been easier thanks to one 40p solution praised by gardeners that ‘effectively kills’ the nuisance plants in no time
It only takes one weed to make your gravel paths and driveways look unsightly.
If you have access to your own outside space, you’ll have encountered weeds before. The pesky plants can seemingly grow anywhere and live to make garderner’s lives hell – even popping up between paving slabs, on patios, and driveways. But there’s good news for anyone looking to banish the invading greenery for good, as there’s a natural solution you can use to “effectively kill” the plants without breaking the bank.
The only item you’ll need to get rid of weeds is something most of us already have in our kitchen cupboards, but if you need to buy some it’ll cost you just 40p. So, what is it? Table salt.
It was revealed as the method of choice for several green-fingered homeowners on the Gardening UK page on Facebook, when a user asked: “Hi folks, is it worth putting down weed killer on my gravel now or would the rain just dilute any solutions Also wondering if anyone uses bleach solutions to kill weeds. I have a gravel driveway.”
In response to the post, several commenters recommended using salt and boiling water to “kill” weeds. One person stated: “Keep away from the bleach and use boiling water and salt.”
A second agreed, writing: “Yes, this works really well. We’ve stubborn brambles coming up the side of our patio and boiling water and salt is the best way we’ve found so far to effectively kill them.”
Another put: “If you never want anything growing there again, use salt and hot water. It’s perfect for driveways. The salt instantly kills the plants and the hot water will help the weeds absorb the salt quicker and also help kill the weeds. My driveway used to be covered in weeds, I now don’t have any weeds growing up.
“I originally did a one-to-one ratio when the weeds were bad but struggled to get the salt to dissolve in that amount of water so reduced it to one to two salt-to-water ratio. Now I quickly pour salt on the weeds and then pour water on them later when I remember.”
Meanwhile, someone else revealed: “I made a spray of hot water and salt on my paving which I’ve always struggled to keep weeds off and they’ve finally not come back. Could be worth a try.”
Several commenters were also keen to recommend the natural solution in favour of bleach due to the risk it can pose to wildlife. However, you should avoid using salt and boiling water on weeds that are growing in your flowerbeds, as the solution could end up damaging or even killing the plants you want to see thrive.
We found table salt for as little as 40p online via Ocado, but it can also be bought in supermarkets such as Morrisons for 55p, and Asda for 65p.
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