The desert … no grass to water … but these weeds!

When the monsoons hit, and when the winters have been wet, the little weedy boogers are EVERYWHERE!

So what is a Vegan girl to do?! Well, I refuse to use chemicals, and I can tell you that the task of pulling weeds is excruciatingly daunting, to say the least. And as much as I would love to have a personal landscaping crew to look at while THEY pull the weeds, one cannot hope the weeds disappear during fantasy alone.

That leaves us with, well, reality. Even though it may take a day or two to work, here is a great way to rid your yard of those nasty weedy visitors! This trick has never failed me.

• Pour one gallon of white vinegar into a bucket. Everyday 5-percent household white vinegar is fine for this weed killer. Costco trip proved fruitful…under $7 for two one-gallon bottles of white distilled vinegar. You won’t need higher, more expensive concentrations such as 10 or 20 percent. It may take two or three days longer to kill the weeds with the lower concentration, but they will die.
• Add one cup of table salt. Costco again, for the mega-sized bag for under $3. It will last a couple of seasons. Stir the solution with a long-handled spoon until all the salt dissolves completely.
• Stir in 1 tablespoon of liquid dishwashing soap. This will act as a surfactant and make the vinegar and salt solution adhere to the weeds more efficiently. Blend thoroughly.
• Funnel the weed killer into a plastic spray bottle. We took the plunge here and actually purchased a pump sprayer that holds the entire gallon mixture and has a handle sprayer. Sure made this job easy to simply walk around the property, aim, and spray. No bending, no pulling, no carpal tunnel pain from pumping the hand-held spray bottles. Well worth the $15 investment.
• Drench the weeds with the solution on a dry, sunny day. Coat all surfaces well with the spray. Any plants soaked with this solution will die within several days. They won’t be back and nothing else will ever grow there.
• Store sprayer in a cool, dark spot indefinitely.
• Depending on where you live and how wet/dry it is, do your walk-about on regular intervals to keep yard weed-free. Here is the Verde Valley since we have not approached the monsoon season yet, once weekly suffices. Once we hit the rainy season; however, I’m sure we’ll need to do it more frequently.
• Don’t forget to admire how lovely your yard looks and remains.