One of these is some downtime from relentless chores in the garden.  

My lawn no longer needs to be mown as regularly and the vegetable patch pretty much takes care of itself.  

This gives me a bit of spare time to tackle one of my least favourite outdoor chores - weeding.  

If truth be told, my vegetable garden looks like a bit of a disaster zone with weeds everywhere.  

I spend endless hours trying to get rid of the pesky plants.  

In fact I think I spend more time weeding the paths around my garden beds, than I do actually growing vegetables in the beds.  

And the worst part is, they just keep coming back - it is very disheartening 

Until now I have tried to tackle the problem simply by hand weeding and in the first few years this seemed to keep the weeds at bay, but now the problem is out of hand. 

Tougher, less time consuming methods are definitely needed.  

Being committed to organic gardening, effective weeding poses a bit of a challenge.  

Although it sounds blissfully easy, I won’t use Roundup or any other commercial chemical herbicides.  It’s not good for the soil or the potential run off into waterways.  

So I need more natural ways to go about the job.  

Here are some of the possible alternatives I have found.

Boil them - the easiest, cheapest and most environmentally friendly way to get rid of weeds is to simply pour some boiling water on them.  This method is great for weeds that grow up in cracks in paths and driveways. You can even use leftover water from your kettle or from boiling pasta or potatoes.

Burn them - this method seems like it might be the ultimate revenge: torch the weeds!  Using a flame weeding tool you can apply heat directly to weeds (without burning your house down) causing them to shrivel up and die.  This is a more expensive option as you need to buy the tool, and it does use gas, which causes emissions, but it sounds fun.

Douse them - common white vinegar is an excellent killer of weeds.  Just pour some distilled vinegar into a spray bottle or pump and apply directly to the leaves of the plants you want to eradicate.  For a little more oomph you could add some salt, while a little bit of dishwashing liquid in the mix helps the vinegar to stick to the leaves of the plants.

Season them - sprinkling salt on weeds is another great way to be rid of them.  Sprinkle rock or table salt on garden paths or along lawn edgings to create a weed barrier.  Do be careful though, salt can cause soil to remain barren for a long time and it may discolour or erode cement paths or driveways.

Smother them - cover weeds with newspaper, mulch or even old carpet.  They will eventually die from the lack of sunlight.

So there you go - a few simple ways to rid yourself of weeds without poisoning the environment.  

I am going to give a few of the methods a go and will keep you posted. I would love to hear of any other ways you use to control weeds.

www.thegreenb.com.au