How do I control weeds and moss on a brick walkway and driveway?

Question

I have a brick driveway and a brick walkway. There is no grout between the bricks. In the sunny areas, small weeds grow between the bricks. In the shadier areas, moss grows between the bricks. The moss isn't that slimy moss like in How do I remove moss from an outdoor brick walkway?. It's just the dense, fuzzy stuff between the cracks.

I just spent a couple hours clearing one walkway's cracks with an old debit card. It looks great now. The driveway and other walkways are next. There really isn't all that much, but I'd like to discourage future growth if possible.

I've heard vinegar might be an option. Does vinegar work to discourage moss, or is it only good for weeds? Is there a better natural way to do it? I've seen suggested filling the cracks with sand, but at this time, I'm looking for a spray option, rather than adding sand to the mix. (Unless of course sand is the best option.)

Answer 1

For the moss I sprinkle baking soda. It turns brown and dies after a few weeks. I spoke nicely to our cafe lady and she got me industrial size 1kg bags of the stuff.

For the weeds I use a glyphospahte based spray, commonly known as 'Roundup' here in NZ.

Answer 2

The steps would be:

1. kill the weeds
2. Remove the earth that lets the weeds grow from between the bricks (can be tricky, a power washer set on a low setting might work)
3. replace the earth with polymeric sand (it's fine silica sand with cement that will harden and make it hard for future weeds to take root).

Ideally, there's also a weedblock underneath the bricks. That, obviously, is hard to retrofit if it's not there, so poisons may be your best bet for now.

Answer 3

It's a little time-consuming, but 100% organic: Pour boiling water on them.

This cooks the plant. Smells quite like brewing tea when pouring the water on them, and a day or three later the weeds are quite obviously dead - easy to sweep up and dispose of.

Answer 4

Vinegar works on killing both weeds and moss. If you want an all natural approach I'd recommend this article/video on how to kill weeds with vinegar that only requires vinegar, dish soap, water, and a spray bottle. Easy, effective, and inexpensive but be careful not to get the solution on any areas with grass that you want to remain.

Hope this helps!