2 Ways to Kill Weeds

I have a brick patio, which looks really nice, but weeds are always growing between the bricks, which makes it look not so nice.  I recently discovered a couple different ways of getting rid of them without having to kneel down and try to dig them out from between the bricks. 

Method #1: Boiling Water

Fill 3 or 4 of your largest pots with hot water and heat them on the stove until boiling.

Put on oven mitts, long pants and shoes (not open-toed).  Trust me, no matter how carefully you think you can pour the water, you will need to wear them.  Very carefully carry the pots outside, one by one, and slowly pour them over the weeds.  They will be dead within an hour or two.

Method #2:  Mix up Your Own Weed Killer

This is made using stuff that just about everyone already has in their house.

Mix together:

2 cups vinegar

1 tbsp salt

1 tbsp liquid soap

Pour ingredients in a spray bottle and shake it up.  Spray directly on the weeds. (Make sure not to spray on plants or grass, it will kill them too.)

Here is the "after" picture:

See all those dead weeds?  SO much easier than digging them out by hand.

Each method has its pros and cons, but they both work well.

The Boiling Water method is absolutely free and 100% non toxic; but it can be dangerous to work with boiling water, the weeds grow back quickly, and it is more time consuming than the weed killer method.

The Weed Killer method is very low in cost, mostly non toxic (other than a small amount of liquid soap), takes very little time, and kills the weeds so they stay dead.  However, it does have a minimal cost and could be somewhat toxic.

I like to keep a bottle of the homemade weed killer in my garage so I can spray the weeds as soon as they pop up.  How do you deal with weeds in your yard?