Weeds adore colonising various garden areas, whether that's patios, gravel walkways or lawns. For those battling these troublesome plants on their patios, Harry Bodell, gardening expert at PriceYourJob, has revealed how to use salt to "kill weeds effectively overnight". Saltwater can serve as a natural solution for tackling those bothersome weeds in your garden. It operates by dehydrating and destroying plant tissues, resulting in their death.

Nevertheless, it's essential to exercise caution when employing saltwater as a weed killer, since it may also damage the soil and nearby plants. Harry revealed: "This method works by ultimately dehydrating weeds. Salt interferes with the weed's ability to absorb essential nutrients such as potassium, magnesium and calcium.

"The disruption in nutrient uptake weakens the plant's overall health, causing it to dry out from dehydration and die.

"The salt method prevents further growth of weeds. There are certain ions present in salt which can be toxic to plants when accumulated in high concentrations, interfere with natural processes such as photosynthesis, leading to cell damage and dehydration of the plant."

How to remove patio weeds using salt

For the mixture, a reliable guideline is to combine one cup of salt with two cups of water. Either rock salt or table salt will suffice for this purpose, reports the Express.

Once you've created your salt solution, gently pour the mixture over gaps between paving slabs on garden paths, particularly focusing on areas where weeds are sprouting.

To ensure effectiveness, this method must be applied on an especially dry day to prevent humidity and rain from diluting the solution.

Harry explained, "Overnight, the solution will work on drying out the plant to the root, making the weed easy to remove the next day.

"Nonetheless, the gardener warns to use the concoction with caution to avoid harming other vegetation. He cautioned, "While salt can effectively kill weeds, it can also accumulate in sand and soil and affect the growth of other plants.

"Use it sparingly and only on areas you wish to have no plants growing through, as it could impact future growth of other plants."