I have an uproar of dandelions and daisies in my garden and I won't be able to get rid of them without harming the grass and leaving the lawn like a huge spotty mess. I'm dubious about using chemicals because I have two small children, any ideas?
By sarah gill from UK
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You can always go old-school and do it like my parents did when I was a kid -- remove them manually. Mom had old steak knives hidden throughout the flowerbeds, so if we saw a weed we could grab one and use it to dig out the weed, root and all. You wouldn't want to leave knives around with little kids, but there are various weed-popping tools on the market these days. No chemicals to worry about, and inexpensive. My parents had the best lawn on the block.
I used to pull them (live in an apartment so no lawn care for me right now) out using a screwdriver to get at the roots. Another option is to pour boiling water to kill them and the roots, but that also will kill the grass around it so I'd go for the screwdriver.
It's tedious, but it's the best option I've found that doesn't involve chemicals.
I just cant spend all my free time pulling up dandelions they come back 2 days later,if you were me you would give up
You can spray the flowers with white vinegar. The acidity will kill them. Or you can harvest the dandelion and use it in your salads.
I use a mix (2:1) of dish soap(dawn) and vinegar and spray it on the area. It will kill nearly anything, so don't spray it where you have grass you want to keep.
I can not give you the exacty recipe (formula)because Jerry Bakers books are copywrite protected but in his book titled Terrific Garden Tonics (page 308) you find that he recommends gin, white vinegar baby shapoo and warm water to kill weeds and for stubborn weeds he says use apple cider vinegar instead of the white. I don't know if this book is out of print since I fould mine at a rummage sale for $1.00 (US). You can also get in contact with his organization at www.jerrybaker.com
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