Getting rid of unwanted plants

[MommyJJ]

I realize most people are probably looking for advice on keeping plants thriving, but I was wondering if anyone has advice on how to get rid of unwanted plants. We have a strip of "garden" about 18" wide that runs alongside our house, right next to our neighbors driveway. Nothing was done in the yard or gardens for years before we bought our house, and this strip has just grown wild. Every spring all sorts of things come up, eventually growing over part of the neighbors driveway. We cut things back every year, but I'd really like to just get rid of all of it. We can't really just dig things up, because at some point the previous owners put rocks down, probably to try to keep weeds at bay, but now it's just made it next to impossible to dig. Could I use salt to kill things? I realize that could make it so that nothing would grow there for awhile, but honestly that would be ok. I don't want to use any chemicals, because we have kids and the neighbors have a dog. Any advice anyone could give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[headfullofbees]

Salt is worse than chemicals.
Boiling water will do the trick.

 

[MommyJJ]

Salt is worse than chemicals.
Boiling water will do the trick.

That never occurred to me! Thanks.

 

[Loofah]

Or a flame gun would work well

 

[NE Ohio John]

Vinegar or simply lay down black plastic to kill everything