Weeding between Pavers

In previous summers, we've used Roundup to kill the weeds between the brick-sized pavers in our front walk. I've never been crazy about that method, however, both because I'm concerned about its possible effect on the toads, birds, and beneficial insects we'd like to see in the garden, and because we need to be very careful not to get any spray on the perennials that crowd much of the walk.

This year, I decided to try pulling the weeds by hand. It was not as bad as I would have expected. The entire task took about five hours. Most of the weeds came up with a good amount of root; it helped, I'm sure, that they were growing in sand rather than soil.

Not surprisingly, it's easier to bring up the root of some species than that of others. I would rate the weeds in our walk as follows, starting with the easiest to pull root-and-all and working up to the most difficult:

1. Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon) -- the trick with bermuda grass is to gather all the leaves of the plant into your hand before you start to pull; it also helps in some cases to shift your hand lower once the first sixteenth inch or so has come up.

2. Wood sorrel (Oxalis corniculata) -- wood sorrel is easy to grab, since it grows upright, but the stem will snap if you don't pull slowly and steadily.

3. Carpetweed (Mollugo verticillata)

4. A weed I haven't identified yet. It clings to the ground and spreads in all directions. The numerous leaves are almost round, medium to dark green, and each leaf has a brown spot in the center. We have a lot of it.

5. Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) -- I've found that the stem of purslane snaps readily when it's growing in anything other than mulch.