Organic herbicides

I'm a highly successful gardener--but only if judged by my ability to grow weeds. With a dog, a toddler, and a general aversion to poison, I don't like to spray herbicides--nor do I like to pull up weeds in the heat of a Sacramento Valley summer. (Besides, if I pulled up all the weeds, we'd pretty much only have a bare patch of dirt in the yard, as weeds constitute about a third of our "lawn.")

But what if I did get ambitious and wanted to target areas of the backyard that are especially weedy? Are there organic weed killers out there?

Some people say you can indeed make homemade herbicide, but before you try it, you should know that some of these herbicides aren't selective--they will kill grass and other plants as well as weeds. Here are a couple of solutions:

1. From ReadyMade blog: use 20 percent distilled vinegar on broadleaf weeds.

2. From Recipe Zaar: Mix together 4 cups white vinegar, 1/4 cup salt, and 2 teaspoons dish detergent. Spray on weeds.

3. Weekend Gardener offers four articles on organic weed killers, including a nifty tip about using corn gluten meal to stop weeds from germinating.

There are also commercial versions of organic weed killers. Simply search for "organic herbicides" in your favorite search engine.

(photo by Dylan Duvergé, used under a Creative Commons license)