Kill the Weeds, Not Your Dog

We have a paver patio in the yard that John (my husband) and I installed ourselves not long after we moved in. Although I love the patio, keeping it free from weeds has been a pain since we’ve had it.

I’ve tried different weed killers over the years. Roundup worked well, but I worried about my dog, Wyatt, walking on it because of the chemicals. To keep him off the patio for a day or two after applying it was also a pain. I tried making my own natural weed killers that contained vinegar and lemon juice but that never kept the weeds away for long.

We finally decided a more permanent solution was necessary. John picked up a few buckets of Perma Sand from the Home Depot.

Step 1:  Remove all of the weeds, making sure you get the roots as well. This step took the longest. I used a small flat head screwdriver to get the stubborn roots between the cracks.

Step 2:  Use a power washer to blast out the dirt in between the cracks. This is the messy part. Make sure the dog helps.

Step 3:  John used the leaf blower to clear all the dirt from the patio. Let the patio fully dry after this step.

Step 4:  Now you can apply the sand. Just sweep it over the entire patio until all the cracks are filled in.

Step 5:  Hose down the patio to set the sand.

For the next 2 days after we did this, we had heavy rain. On day 3 when I checked the patio, I found several areas where the cracks were not filled in. I’m not sure if this is to be expected or if it was because of the rain. We had some sand left over so we applied more in those areas.

Its now been over 2 weeks since we did this project and we are still weed free.

Wyatt approves. 🙂