Weeds can be the bane of any gardener’s existence, and usually the most instinctive and simplest way to rid your garden of weeds is by using a chemical herbicide to kill all the weeds in your garden as quickly as possible. While these widely available chemical formulations are very good at what they do, it’s not all good news unfortunately. Many chemical weed killers cause nasty side effects that can be quite harmful to the plants that you actually want in your garden.
Chemical herbicides come in broad-spectrum varieties (these are designed and formulated to kill a wide range of plants, making it easy to wipe out almost any kind of weed), as well as more species-specific types. No matter how specific however, most weed killers have the unwanted side effect of killing other plants in your garden as well. Grass is particularly susceptible to these chemicals. Too much use of them and your lawn may actually end up less healthy and looking worse than when overgrown by weeds in the first place!
The harmful effects of chemical herbicides don’t stop in the garden, either. Many of the chemicals can seep down through the soil as they are washed off the surface by water. Over time, they can contaminate the soil to quite a depth, and can even join the water table of the area, leading to infertile topsoil, poisoned animals, and even a water supply that is unsafe to drink. This effect is of particular concern where home gardens are located near to rivers or the coast, as this provides chemicals with easy access to nearby water sources.
As an alternative to these harmful and poisonous chemicals, many gardeners have turned to more organic methods that do not contain as many chemicals (if any at all). While these may be slightly less effective and, in some cases, take a little more effort to implement, their safety for use on all desirable plants makes them a more effective and beneficial solution in the long run.