Landscape for rental?
+13
Hey everyone! We are renting a townhouse and are lucky enough to have a unit with a private fenced yard. Unluckily for us, it’s a total disaster and we are responsible for maintaining it. The property management company covered the ground with rocks, but never laid down any weed barrier. The weeds are ridiculously bad. We have been weed whacking, but they are back less than 3 days later. We don’t want to use any toxic sprays since we have a service dog. Summers are hot where we live and we are in a drought, so I’d love some low-maintenance options that hopefully don’t break the bank. Are we going to have to dig up all these rocks in order to accomplish anything?
ETA: we have 2 bushes in the yard we don’t want harmed. The overall space is about 8’x16’.
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What is the aprox sq footage of the area that is covered with rocks?
Is it river rock, or the smaller size?
If you want a weed barrier, you'll have to rake up the rocks. Here's a solution I use for weeds:
Take a spray bottle and cover the bottom with salt and fill it up with vinegar. Add a few drops of dish soap and shake. Spray on the weeds.
https://www.hometalk.com/diy/outdoor/pest-repeller/all-natural-weed-killer-43299149
All-Natural Weed Killer
If you dig up the rocks and put in a weed barrier and replace the rocks, that will work for awhile, Generally weather with winds, rain and other natural elements will bring in dirt and you'll have weeds again, probably not as heavy as they are now.
Plain white vinegar will kill the weeds, but we don't know the amount of area you have to cover.
even with weed barrier you will still get some weeds - you can make a weed killer or buy non-toxic ones at any garden center or Home Depot type stores- if you use a weed killer you can apply it on a warm day and let it dry then it will not harm your dog just read directions on the bottles and follow them
You could get a stand up weeder. You didn’t say if you wanted to plant anything; if you do, salt will leave soil barren for a while so best to avoid that if you intend to plant.
An inexpensive weed killer can be made with a gallon of white distilled vinegar, 1 cup of epsom or table salt and a squirt of Dawn dishwashing liquid. Get a garden sprayer and spray the mixture over the current weeds. As new ones grow, spray them as sooon as you see them. Eventually the weed growth will diminish.
https://www.hometalk.com/diy/outdoor/pest-repeller/diy-weed-killer-38537988?
https://www.hometalk.com/diy/outdoor/pest-repeller/s-9-natural-weed-killers-that-will-save-your-summer-garden-17001086?
https://www.hometalk.com/diy/outdoor/pest-repeller/natural-weed-killer-20665086?
Cleaning vinegar with a higher levels of acidity works best and applied on a warm sunny day.
DIY Weed Killer
Natural Weed Killer
The vinegar will kill everything, it can't tell the difference between what you want to preserve and weeds.