Weeds are pesky things that can make our gardens look unsightly.
Whether you’ve got paving slabs with green shoots forcing their way up between the cracks, or if you’ve got a gorgeous flowerbed overrun with plants you don’t want, we all want weeds gone – but that’s often easier said than done.
Weeds are difficult to kill because they tend to have resilient root systems, meaning that even if you pull them up or spray some weed killer on the leaves, the roots underground can survive and will eventually grow again. It’s also common for some types of weed to have waxy leaves that resist herbicides and weed killers, meaning they don’t respond to common treatments.
But according to gardening fans on social media, there is one thing you can do to make sure the weeds in your garden never come back. In fact, it’s been praised as the “only effective method” for killing the unwanted plants for good.
The hack was shared on Instagram by a woman named Alex, who said all you need is one item that we all have in our homes.
In her video, Alex was seen boiling her kettle with nothing but tap water inside. Once the kettle was boiled, she took it outside and dumped the scalding hot water over the weeds that were growing between her paving slabs and among the pebbles in her garden – taking care not to splash it on herself.
Boiling water is a proven way to kill weeds, as it melts the waxy protective coating on their leaves and scalds the foliage, causing it to dehydrate and die. And as commenters on Alex’s video pointed out, it really does work.
One person said: “I can also vouch for the fact that this is the only effective method I have ever found!”
Another added: “Tried! Tested! Works!”
However, some pointed out there are some weeds which are actually good for our ecosystem. In the clip, Alex poured hot water on a dandelion, which people noted is actually a great pollinator for bees, so it should be left alone if possible.
There are also some caveats to using boiling water to kill weeds. You cannot use this method in a flowerbed and must only use it on weeds growing between rocks or on your patio, as pouring it on soil will also kill any plants that you want to keep.
It is also most effective when you pour the boiling water directly to the base of the plant to maximise the impact on the roots, and for more established weeds, you may have to do it multiple times.
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