Suggestions for killing grass and weeds in long gravel driveway (45m),

[MrErusParticipant]

Hi all,

I’ve recently moved house and have inherited a long gravel driveway that is quickly turning green with grass and weeds, I do not want to use any of those nasty chemical weed killers, does anyone have any experience/suggestions they could share to help tackle this problem?

Many thanks,

Mark.

[GoldcrestParticipant]

A hoe and a rake will do the job. It will have to be done on a regular basis so think of it as an alternative to using the gym.
I suppose you could use a weed burner then after removing the burnt weeds the first time subsequent regular burning will be easy.

[CleansweepParticipant]

Some attention to identifying the weed species will help. Firstly, are they perennial, such as couch grass, brambles ,plants that are spreading in from the borders. Are they chance arrivals of wind blown seeds from elsewhere? Deeply rooted docks or dandelions?
Seeds will need to find fine material to establish.Perhaps raking to increase the voids, with the introduction /evening of gravel will help.
Flame treatment would be my choice, you need only to raise the sap temperature towards boiling point to destroy soft plants, not necessary to burn them away, although its quite satisfying to totally blitz the more persistant!

[MrErusParticipant]

Many thanks to both of you for your suggestions. Weed identification isn’t my strong suit, I’ve always wanted a large garden, now I have one I have a lot to learn!
I think im going to use a weed burner then maybe get a few tons of fresh gravel to lay over the top, then just burn back any new growth going forward.

Thanks again,
Mark.

[Author]

Posts