Pet Safe Weed Killer?

For those of use who are primarily summer gardeners, glyphosate is a very good option for 'cleaning up' the existing veggie patch in preparation for the new season. This is especially important where there are weeds such couch grass and kikuyu grass which spread by underground rhizomes. The most effective method in warm temperate and warmer areas is to spray out once in winter, and again when the first flush of spring weeds emerge, just prior to the big spring plant-up. This prevents winter seeding weeds making their deposit! Not for the faint hearted! Glyphosate is dangerous to all plants, and it doesn't distinguish between friend and foe. Lapse of concentration, sudden gusts of wind, 'bounce' and carelessness can cause you to damage or kill the produce in your garden of which you are so justifiably proud. This is high risk territory - almost irresistible to males, in other words! In our opinion, glyphosate is too risky to use as a between row weeder in a home garden of mixed veggies. There are, as always, exceptions. For crops which have waxy, water repellent coatings on the leaves, such as cabbages, broccoli, other brassicas and crambe, you can often get away with spraying between the rows WITH a spray guard, USING a lower rate, and WITH GREAT CARE. Risks First, on available evidence, there is no risk to human health, immediate or carcinogenic, from using glyphosate in the ordinary manner. And probably not even when used at much higher dosage. It works on a plant specific enzyme system, and seems to be well proven as safe for animals when used on weeds. The real risk is what is euphemistically called 'collateral damage'. That is, plants you love and hold dear get a drift of glyphosate and are severely damaged or die. This can be caused by 'the bounce', 'drift', 'the drip' or carelessness. Droplets can 'bounce' off hard packed soil and onto adjacent precious plants. A fine mist can be carried by breezes onto precious plants nearby, it is not uncommon for sprayers to leak at the hose or the nozzle. Each drip is potentially lethal to the plant it drips on Males, especially, (spraying is 'mans work'!), like to push the envelope. It is always tempting to spray as close as possible to precious plants to minimize later 'around precious plant weeding'. Carelessness or a lapse in concentration can have serious consequences! To repeat, between row spraying with glyphosate in the home veggie garden is a high risk activity, and you really have to have killed a few plants and had had quite some experience to know what can and can't get away with. It is not recommended for any but the most experienced. The winter/spring spray-outs are safe as long as risks are minimized- http://extoxnet.orst.edu/pips/glyphosa.htm This site tells you all about the substance and animal reassurances. Hope that this helps you.

I am not familiar with couch grass, but if you heat vinegar to be very hot and pour it on the grass it will at least temporarily kill it. Vinegar will not hurt your other plants or your animals. The only other things I could suggest is to pull it, and put in weed barrier (plastic) and mulch like bark chips. Your cats will still love the area.

I found a wonderful site that lists some good ideas that you may want to try out. I also read that if you do use a commercial weed killer that it is not harmful to pets if you apply to the lawn and wait for it to dry. Here is the website: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/05/using_lemons_as.php Pablo