First time homeowner, new to all of this…this stone patio got weedy while we were in the throes of new baby life. I didn’t want to use a weed killer lest it hurt some of the other plants, and I didn’t want to use one of those flame things because it’s close to the house and there was moss between the stones that I didn’t want to disturb…so I hand weeded, but that kicked up all this sandy dirt. It’s rained a couple times but this is the most I think it’s going to wash away. So I’m wondering:
- What’s the best way for me to get this cleaned up again? and
- What did I do wrong when weeding and what should I do differently so I’m not creating a sand pile on the stones?
by hatboxed
10 Comments
Could you blow it? I myself just got a propane torch weeder thing – bet that would disturb less for you. Also burning is fun.
What comes to my mind is dirt is going to settle from the air, weed seeds are going to find there was to there. MIL had her from yard removed, weed barrier out down and large gravel put in place. Still have to battle weeds.
Maybe if you put in polymeric sand between the stones, that would reduce weed abilities to take sprout and be able to keep the sand in place.
weeds are just natural part of stone pathways, walkways patios. i can’t use cement because of winter, i use the weed stuff and the bug stuff. example if i leave the weeds when i pull them they have very small bugs on then, it’s just nature. . yes the moss disappears from the treatments, but this night help you
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Is property in a Sandy beach area without much soil and regular dirt at the surface? Try to find out how deep the sand is and then consider removing it. How big of an area does it cover.
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Nothing wrong with hand weeding, and this shouldn’t be too difficult to solve. This is what my dry stone patio looked like after I placed the stones. I just cleaned up the excess soil/sand with a broom.
In my opinion, stones look better with stuff growing between them. You could try thyme (high sun, okay moisture, okay soil), moss (low sun, good moisture, acidic soil), or sedum (any sun, any moisture, any soil so long as competition with grass isn’t an issue) depending on the conditions. You would have to replace the sand with real soil for thyme or moss of course. I don’t have experience with sandy soil like this, but perhaps someone who does can chime in with a plant recommendation. Alternatively, just weed whack down whatever wild plants take root there.
Vinegar/salt spray when the sun is up. Once it’s died and dried you can easily clean it up. The moss normally comes from the area being moist for a longer period with light sun, you can just spray copper fungicide too once all the weeds are under controlled. The moss will only get worse as we go into fall winter season. I have the same stone lay out as you do on the side of my house that goes from the front to the back yard.
I responded and had to delete after seeing the picture again.. that’s crushed granite or other rock, not the same as sand so my response changed haha. I’d use 30% vinegar(with high caution) for weeds or pull them. Clean off the pavers and smooth the area where the weeds were pulled. Don’t heavily spray the area if water builds up but spray down the area lightly to help compact it after pulling the weeds. You can brush the bulk of the loose material further from the pavers.
Repack the sand as best as you can then take water hose put it on rain and try it if you think the water is to much than stop and allow the sand to resettle and do this until you have it and so that you don’t lose any sand put the black stripe that are for sidewalks them go down about 4 inches into the sides of your walk
Use the torch just keep it away from the house. It really is the quickest a d best tool for this. Use Preen pre-emergent in the Spring it will prevent weed seeds from sprouting but not hurt existing plants.