THE ORGANIC WAY TO WEED A BRICK PATHWAY

Brick paths and driveways look so smart when they are brand new and make a property look most attractive, but after a few months weeds appear between the cracks to spoil the effect. When this happens the average gardener will reach for a proprietary weedkiller and spray the offending intruders. Not so the organic gardener who avoids the use of any chemicals and so has to devise an alternative way of dealing with the problem. There are a number of homemade remedies that you can try as Melissa Will explains in her article which I found on her Empress of Dirt website.

Have you ever heard the (sarcastic) saying the gift that keeps on taking?
That?s what a brick pathway / driveway / walkway is.
The gift that keeps on taking.
Oh, they can look really nice. In fact, our last home was originally the model home for a new development, and, to show the upgrades possible, instead of installing a plain asphalt driveway, they splurged the big bucks to create an elaborate brick design to give the front of the home more curb appeal.
And it looked really nice.
And we liked it just fine.
Until we were initiated into the curse of the brick driveway.
And what are the odds are next home would also have the same design? Oy.

You know how this goes.
The weeds start appearing in the cracks between the bricks.
And, unlike most weeds in the garden, you can?t just stick a weeding fork under them and pry them out.
Oh, no.
These guys have deep roots, firmly in place, well below the immovable bricks.
You can try pulling the tops, but, more often than not, just the tops pull off, leaving the roots to make a mockery of our efforts by doubling in size and taunting us soon after with even more growth.
So what can be done?

Organic Garden Practices?and the Greater Good

Before you read any further, keep in mind that I am an organic gardener. By this I mean, I do not ever intentionally introduce anything into the soil or water on our property that negatively affects the soil, water, or environment.
For me personally, I do not think you can ever justify harmful actions for the sake of cosmetic problems in a garden.
I also do not sweat the small stuff. There is no such thing as the perfect growing year. Some years some plants thrive, other years, others thrive. Pests come and pests go. In most cases, I just leave things to sort themselves out or, at most, hand pick pests, and look at ways I can diversify the plants further to achieve a greater self-correcting balance between the things that live here.
So, when it comes to weeds in the driveway, my choices are always going to abide by the?mandate to never create a new problem in the process of?remedying an existing one. Especially when the new problem could be something I would have no ability to undo like removing toxic chemicals.
Yes, it?s a driveway and pathway made of bricks and the cracks are filled with weeds and it looks awful, but the ongoing effects of using toxic poisons, whether they are (misnamed) natural or not, is not an option.