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Thanks for the tip. I've used vinegar on some of the weeds growing thru the cracks in the concrete and asphalt, but we've got some monster, mutant weeds here that seem to take root in the most minute specks of dirt. They almost look like a dandelion but much bigger, and the stems and leaves are covered with a stiff, prickly fuzz - have to wear heavy duty gloves to grab them, and put your whole body into trying to pull them out.

Since outdoor clean-up and window washing are on my list today, I'll try the boiling water.

Thanks again.

I was traveling this week and my garden has developed a major grass and weed problem. Are there any good killers/deterrants for grass in particular?

We used to use boiling water to get rid of the poison ivy that grew near the beach at our summer cottage. It was an inexpensive method and did not leach poisons into the lake. It is definitely worth a try.

My mom swears by boiling water. I haven't tried it yet. We've been pulling everything by hand.

AMLitt, we ripped out our last year and replaced it with gravel. We had lots and lots of grass come up this spring through the weed barrier and gravel. All the nurseries we asked said to use Round-up.

I'm planning to try this in my little side yard. I'll report back if I do.

A neighbor once informed me of the boiling water method to get rid of those strong, pesky weeds at the foot of my front stoop. It did the trick right away and I've used it ever since for pesky weeds, I highly recommend it.

I'll try anything that doesn't involve harsh chemicals. Although this isn't on the topic of plants, I've just learned of a baking soda and water method for oven cleaning which I'm going to try this week. Those oven cleaners on the market are disgusting! Here's the link: http://www.thenewenvironmentalist.com/articles_0602/living_clean.html

I've tried the boiling water trick too, and it works pretty well. No chemicals, no fussing around (if you've got a nice insulated kettle), very quick. The larger weeds leave dead leaves behind, but it's no trouble to pull them out a couple of days after you've 'watered' them.

I use multiple methods to remove cement crack weeds. The first step is to either wet down the area or weed while raining (wet ground makes weed removal easier). Then, I use an old kitchen knife to get down and loosen up the roots. This makes it much, much easier to pull out the monster weeds. Once I've pulled out the green part of the weeds, I either dump vinegar, boiling water, or salt into the cracks. Seems to do the trick for awhile.

Plus, I find something zen-like in pulling weeds. After college, I lived at home with my parents for a year. My neighbors all paid me to keep their sidewalk cracks clean, and I used the above method to keep cracks clean for 2-3 weeks. It wasn't a lot, but it helped me save up extra pocket money for a computer before heading off to grad school.

Oceandreamer. I think that prickly weed is thistle. Finches love the seeds, but I wouldn't let it go to flower. Also, salt can leech into the plants you want to keep.

Our neighbor pours table salt in the cracks and waits for it to rain. I don't know how the salt affects the stormwater/creeks, but I wouldn't use it where you want to grow something later (i.e., ok for crack weeds?).

Hi Kurt - thanks for the identification. Makes sense, as the town here goes on a Yellow Star thistle eradification hunt every year about this time.

I didn't get a chance to try the boiling water since I got hung up doing other things (grossly underestimated the time in getting the windows and blinds clean!) - now I'm wondering about killing what grows around them with the boiling water - not that we have much in the way of actual grass... the neighbor that I share the yard with figured if we actually got rid of all the weeds we'd have nothing green...

Anyway - I'll probably soak everything Friday evening, then get up early to try to get to some of the weeds. I might try elaypenn's trick of trying to dig around them, then pour the water in.

Does anyone know how to get rid of trumpet creepers? They have rhizome-type roots so I don't think just pulling them out would works. Would boiling water work in this case?