It’s officially the time of year when my garden is out of control. It’s too hot to water the plants, pull the weeds, or bother pruning anything, so I inevitably end up just letting it all go. Needless to say, my backyard is in rough shape.
And being in my third trimester of pregnancy this summer has only dampened any desire to step outside in the Alabama heat even more. But, my nesting has gotten the best of me, and I absolutely cannot stand to see the weeds taking over parts of my yard. Call it nesting or motherly rage cleaning—but they absolutely had to go.
Spruce EZ-AIM Grass and Weed Killer Spray
In the past I usually just pulled up weeds by hand, particularly those that creep through the crevices of our brick pathway. Our backyard is frequently used by both of our dogs and our toddler and it’s always felt like the safest option. This year, though, I’m obviously not bending down to weed. So I searched high and low for a pet- and child-safe option and stumbled upon Spruce.
Spruce is a weed and grass killer that’s made with made with water, essential oils and surfactant, so it’s totally safe to use in the presence of both kids and pets. Better yet, it promises results within one hour and totally dead weeds with a day. Honestly, this sounded a bit too good to be true, but I was intrigued enough to check it out.
I want to emphasize that Spruce is both a weed and grass killer, so you want to be sure you’re only using it near plants that you want to die. I primarily sprayed it on our brick pathway, along our A/C unit, and on a barren section of a garden bed that I haven’t gotten around to replanting. I was sure to keep plenty of distance between the spray nozzle and any of my shrubs or flowers.
Hannah Jones for Country Living
My garden path before being sprayed with Spruce. No judgement, please.
Hannah Jones for Country Living
The same path just one hour later, with weeds already dying.
The smell of Spruce’s formula is pretty powerful, but not in a chemical way. The essential oils come through strong, though, and definitely last. I could still smell the spray into the next day, but given I’d totally coated the weeds (as directed) and it hadn’t rained, that wasn’t all that surprising.
I really loved the spray applicators on both bottle sizes. The smaller one just requires you to turn the bottle upside down and press a button to spray, while the larger size has an easy-to-use nozzle, no pumping required.
Hannah Jones for Country Living
The brick walkway shown above, a full 24 hours after using Spruce. Some of the more overgrown areas could definitely use another spritz, but I was impressed by my first attempt.
Hannah Jones for Country Living
The weeds that had grown out of crevices on the path didn’t stand a chance.
Low and behold, within an hour I could already see most of the weeds I’d sprayed were drooping, at the very least. A few had already started turning brown. Twenty-four hours later, most of the plants were dead, or at least well on their way to being dead. The weed killer definitely performed the best on the weeds that had sprouted from crevices in our brick walk way, which is the ideal spot to use the spray according to the brand. In areas where the weed growth was thicker, in particular with a patch of crab grass that had taken over one of my beds, the weeds could probably use another spray. But you can see a visible difference in the area I sprayed vs where I avoided getting too close to one of our hydrangea bushes.
Hannah Jones for Country Living
You can see the line where I stopped spraying the overgrown crabgrass with Spruce. The right side is in the process of dying while the left is still alive.
My only complaint about Spruce’s weed killer is the smaller packaging. The directions are clear that you need to coat the entire plant and not just the root, and seeing as the bottle isn’t totally full, I ran out of a single bottle pretty quickly. If you need to spray more than just a weed here or there, I would definitely opt for either the three pack of smaller-sized bottles or the larger bottle with the spray nozzle applicator. I should also mention that at $30 for 30 fluid ounces, Spruce is a bit more expensive than your traditional weed and grass killer. To be honest, though, Spruce worked far better than the heavy-duty name brand pesticide we used in our front yard (we don’t use that green space as often so I wasn’t worried about our kids or pets being around it). Not to mention, Spruce is a far safer alternative for both my family and the environment. Personally, I’ll pay a little extra to be able to use our yard comfortably without worrying about what chemicals our pets or kids could encounter.
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