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03/28/08, 09:53 AM
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Icelandic Sheep
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Join Date: May 2006
Location: Northeast Ohio
Posts: 3,344
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Getting rid of grass in a gravel driveway?
I have a very wide gravel driveway. My house used to be a restaurant and my driveway is actually a long narrow parking lot  Hey, it's great for entertaining! My problem is that grass and weeds are taking over my driveway. Last year I actually had to mow the edges of my driveway! I don't want to use Round Up as my boys like to play in the rocks sometimes and I have free-ranging chickens.
Is there any natural way I can get rid of this vegetation?
Thanks so much,
 RedTartan
P.S. The tub drain you all helped me with a few weeks ago is still running fast and smooth...
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03/28/08, 09:55 AM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 7
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maybe a portable chicken pen, they eat grass, dont they?
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03/28/08, 09:59 AM
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Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 15,516
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Boiling water or vinegar (hot) will kill vegatation.
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03/28/08, 10:07 AM
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Banned
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: georgia
Posts: 772
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Thats a problem I WISH I HAD!. I have a gravel drive way & the grass keeps the road from washing away! I try and make it grow!
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03/28/08, 10:12 AM
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Fair to adequate Mod
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Between Crosslake and Emily Minnesota
Posts: 13,728
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I agree with Toolman. Unless you live in the city and are worried about "looks," what's wrong with grass in your driveway? Many of the suggestions you'll get...like Ardie's....will only be temporary at best. It will be a constant battle.
__________________
This is the government the Founding Fathers warned us about.....
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03/28/08, 10:14 AM
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Incubator Addict
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Greensburg, PA
Posts: 3,111
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We had a gravel and stone driveway when I was growing up...we paved it when I was older.
Although my mother never liked grass and weeds in the gravel, my father did, for the same reason THETOOLMAN mentions. Torrential rains would wash huge ruts and rivers into the driveway. I would say keep mowing it if it gets too high, maybe weedwhack if you don't want to put the mower blade in constant danger.
Or I could bring my dog up and let her pee all over your driveway. She kills off the grass pretty well here.
Kayleigh
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03/28/08, 10:18 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: north woods maine
Posts: 58
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torch it.
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03/28/08, 11:08 AM
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: East Tenn.
Posts: 10,131
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__________________
Thinking is hard. Feeling and believing a storyline is easy.
FREEEEEEEDDDDDDDOOOOOOMMM!!!
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03/28/08, 11:27 AM
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Hill Country, Texas
Posts: 4,649
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Round up and the other glycophosphate plant killers are only active on the plants for 24 hours or less. Light and the soils inactivate them after that time - whats the problem?? Round UP is even OK in Organic practices I think.
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03/28/08, 11:35 AM
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Join Date: May 2006
Location: WV
Posts: 634
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HaHaHaHa!
You think you can actually kill the grass, ha ha!
Sorry about that. I feel your pain. I have the same problem. I love the grass strip in the center of my driveway, and I have grass on either side....but I hate how the edges try and creep in every year. Vinegar does work, gallons and gallons of it every week  Laying a dark tarp over the area will kill the grass during a hot spell in July will work. Weed killer works. The only problem is nothing works for very long.
My dh wants to get one of those torches to burn it this year, but I'm sure the grass will come back again. I'm starting to think the gravel gives off some minerals that grass loves.
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03/28/08, 11:36 AM
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Just howling at the moon
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Wyoming
Posts: 5,530
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Drive over it more! LOL
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If the grass looks greener it is probably over the septic tank. - troy n sarah tx
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03/28/08, 12:03 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: N. E. TX
Posts: 29,602
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Straight 10% vinegar will do it. May have to repeat.
Patty
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03/28/08, 12:14 PM
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Icelandic Sheep
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Join Date: May 2006
Location: Northeast Ohio
Posts: 3,344
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Well, crud. I was really hoping there would be a way to do this 
I live in a township around an historic circle. I'm not bragging when I say I have THE most beautiful place in our little town. It's a very formal-looking yellow Colonial Revival style house with black shutters and a fancy white porch with columns built in 1825. It used to be a restaurant and half the town has taken the trouble to tell me all about how they ate here as a child. The whole town cares about how my house is maintained! LOL! So, I admit that I am concerned about looks as silly as it may seem to some. I know the people here take pride in MY home even though it isn't theirs.
I know it's time to add more gravel, so I guess I'll start there and then fight the ones that come up with vinegar... Sigh.
RedTartan
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03/28/08, 01:09 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 309
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i have always said if you want a nice lawn just put gravel down.
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03/28/08, 01:29 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Central New York
Posts: 403
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Torch is the best way I have found but it is strictly for looks.
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03/28/08, 03:05 PM
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de oppresso liber
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 13,948
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How about the old salting the soil?
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Remember, when seconds count. . .
the police are just MINUTES away!
Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. . .Davy Crockett
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03/28/08, 03:20 PM
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Moderator
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: WISCONSIN
Posts: 6,701
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiffin
Torch is the best way I have found but it is strictly for looks.
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400,000 BTU OF GRASS KILLER but it takes a tank of propane
i just use mine to get around the fence ,and in the garden ocationaly, but watch out for the all the fires you start might want to keep a hose handy , best if it reaches were you are burning.
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03/28/08, 03:50 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Oregon
Posts: 2,192
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Quote:
Originally Posted by watcher
How about the old salting the soil?
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Oh yes...let's contaminate the soil and ground water while we are at it.
I also have grass and weeds (more weeds than grass) in my gravel driveway and paths and need to find a way to control it. I've been considering the torch. If anyone has used it, I'd like to know how expensive it is to do it that way (in terms of fuel cost to run the torch per sq foot).
The problem with grass and weeds in the driveway is it makes it harder to rake up debris, which I need to keep cleared so I don't trip on it, and also it grows in tufts that I tend to trip on (plus I have to mow it), and the weeds go to seed and try to spread to my lawns. So I want it cleared out.
I've tried roundup without a lot of success, and it's expensive too. I have a 300' driveway and lots of paths, so I need something cost effective.
Last edited by naturewoman; 03/28/08 at 03:52 PM.
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03/28/08, 04:45 PM
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Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 7,154
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Running a good grader up and down it will knock down the weeds and grass for quite a while. Find someone with a rear grader blade for their tractor and have them go over it whenever necessary. Adding some stone makes it easier to grade well.
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03/28/08, 05:54 PM
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de oppresso liber
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 13,948
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Quote:
Originally Posted by naturewoman
Oh yes...let's contaminate the soil and ground water while we are at it.
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For that I'd suggest what we used to do when I was a kid, spray the used motor oil from all the machinery where you don't want the grass to grow. We also used to pour it around the base of the buildings, keep ants, termites and other bugs from being a bother.
Just how much salt do you think it would take to kill off the grass? If it were me I'd find out where the local road dept buys their road salt and buy me a truck load and have at it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by naturewoman
I also have grass and weeds (more weeds than grass) in my gravel driveway and paths and need to find a way to control it. I've been considering the torch. If anyone has used it, I'd like to know how expensive it is to do it that way (in terms of fuel cost to run the torch per sq foot).
The problem with grass and weeds in the driveway is it makes it harder to rake up debris, which I need to keep cleared so I don't trip on it, and also it grows in tufts that I tend to trip on (plus I have to mow it), and the weeds go to seed and try to spread to my lawns. So I want it cleared out.
I've tried roundup without a lot of success, and it's expensive too. I have a 300' driveway and lots of paths, so I need something cost effective.
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I don't know if its a 'controlled' product but there is/was some product you could buy that would chemically 'kill' the soil. Was supposed to keep almost anything from growing for a couple of years. We never used it because the ag agent said he didn't know how safe it'd be around horses. IIRC, it had a name that sounded a lot like sevin in sevin dust.
__________________
Remember, when seconds count. . .
the police are just MINUTES away!
Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. . .Davy Crockett
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