Lemon Verbena - A Show For the Nose
30% Vinegar for Weed Control? Here's Why You Don't Want to Use It
Quite the Combo for a garden newsletter: a delightfully fragrant herb to grow and an innocuously named unregistered herbicide that could send you to the hospital.
Shocked by what I saw displayed in the cleaning products aisles of the major hardware stores in our area, I was all set to write about the dangers and the poisonous properties of using 30% vinegar, not only as a cleaning agent, but also its danger as an unauthorized weed killer. But I got distracted (more on that later).
30% vinegar is not to be confused with that kitchen staple, regular household vinegar, which has a concentration of about four percent acetic acid. By the way, the words “Danger” and “Poison” are prominently displayed on the label of those one-gallon jugs of 30% vinegar.
These highly concentrated vinegar solutions are intended to be used as household cleaners. Nowhere on the bottle were any directions for using it as a weed killer, despite the myriads of unsubstantiated recommendations for using it as an herbicide in the landscape, that you’ll find on the internet.
I don’t use 30% vinegar to kill weeds. Why?
A) There are no instructions on the label, or any recommendations on this label, for that matter, about using it to kill weeds.
B) It is Dangerous. It is Poisonous. To you. This is on the label of 30% vinegar: “Causes eye damage and skin burns. Vapor or mist may irritate eyes and skin. May be harmful if swallowed. Avoid contact with eyes, skin, mucous membranes, and clothing. Put on rubber gloves and protective eyewear. If in eyes, get medical attention immediately. If swallowed, call a Poison Control Center or doctor immediately.”
C) It doesn’t do a very good job of killing weeds. The vinegar, if sprayed onto the leaves of a weed, will kill those leaves. But that is the extent of the damage. The root and untouched portions of the plant will survive, usually to grow back.
D) Besides you and your skin, vinegar can also damage desirable plants, cause etchings or discoloration in metal or wood, spotting on concrete, and damage to your clothes. And the vapors, according to the product’s Safety Data Sheet, can cause “irritation to the upper respiratory tract and mucous membranes.”
As we are fond of saying here, READ AND FOLLOW ALL LABEL DIRECTIONS.
My primary weed control methods? Hand-pulling, hoeing, and lots of mulch.
Farmer Fred’s Ride for the Kids!
I'm fundraising on behalf of the 2024 Sac Century Challenge on September 28th to raise money for the Sacramento Children's Home Crisis Nursery, and I could use your support. Here’s the link.
On that date, I’ll be riding my bike, a Surly Midnight Special (NOT an e-bike) 100 miles along the Sacramento River to help out the Sacramento Children’s Home Crisis Nursery. I’ve ridden 100 miles in one day plenty of times…when I was younger.
But at 73, I could use some moral support, and the Sacramento Children’s Home Crisis Nursery can use your pledge money. So, how about it? Maybe pledge 10 cents a mile (that’s $10) along with a hearty, “You go, Fred!” Or a more generous one dollar a mile ($100), to give me the mental endurance for the entire ride, to dodge the pothole-filled levee roads and pedal harder in the ferocious headwinds that makes this ride a real challenge!
The Sacramento Children's Home Crisis Nursery is the only program of its kind in Sacramento County and directly prevents child abuse and neglect by supporting families with small children at times of crisis. The nursery allows parents to bring their children ages newborn to five for emergency hourly or overnight care during difficult times, with the goal of keeping families together and reducing the number of children entering foster care. To care for our community's most vulnerable children, we rely on support from community members like you. By donating, you empower us to provide a safe haven for children throughout the Sacramento area, offering respite to parents during times of crisis, and building a strong support system for the future. Your support helps provide a safe place to stay local kids in need. Again, here’s the link to make a donation to the Sacramento Children’s Home Crisis Nursery.
Thank you for your support, and say "Hi!" if you see me pedaling like crazy out there on Saturday, September 28th!
Meanwhile, Back in the Garden…Lemon Verbena!
But I digress. While doing research about the dangers of high concentrations of vinegar, the latest “Sacramento Digs Gardening” newsletter hit my inbox, with a cookie recipe that uses the herb, lemon verbena.
The lemon verbena herb (Aloysia citrodora) is more of a shrub or small tree here, getting about 10 feet tall if grown in the ground, about half that size if grown in a container. And the beauty of growing it in a container outdoors in climates where winter temperatures regularly drop below freezing, you can bring it inside. Generally, lemon verbena will do fine in USDA Zones 8-10, especially with winter protection.
Lemon verbena is a perennial shrub or subshrub growing to 2–3 metres (7–10 ft) high. The 8-centimetre-long (3 in), glossy, pointed leaves are slightly rough to the touch and emit a strong lemon scent when bruised (hence the Latin specific epithet citrodora—lemon-scented). It is usually sold at nurseries in spring, but can be propagated from softwood to semi-ripe cuttings from spring to mid-summer.
Sprays of tiny purple or white flowers appear in late spring or early summer, although potted lemon verbenas may not flower. It is evergreen in tropical locations, but is sensitive to cold, losing leaves at temperatures below 0 °C (32 °F), although the wood is hardy to −10 °C (14 °F). Pruning is recommended in spring to encourage a bushy form. Due to its many culinary uses, it is widely listed and marketed as a plant for the herb garden.
It has done so well at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center, it has become the herb garden focal point (after all, it is eight to ten feet tall!), tended to by the Sacramento County Master Gardeners. One whiff of the leaves, and you’ll be a fan for life. One taste of a shortbread cookie that contains dried lemon verbena leaves will have you searching for the plant. And that noise in the background? That’s our dehydrator drying a few dozen freshly clipped lemon verbena leaves to go into that cookie recipe, concocted by Master Gardener Vivian Sellers.
Here’s the Lemon Verbena Shortbread Cookie recipe, with parenthetical additions by Kathy Morrison of the “Sacramento Digs Gardening” newsletter:
Makes about 4 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened (plus 1/2 teaspoon salt, if using unsalted butter)
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 to 3 teaspoons finely ground dried lemon verbena leaves
Instructions:
Blend butter and sugar well (and the salt if using unsalted butter), then stir in the flour and lemon verbena. Form into logs (mine in the half batch was about 8 inches long) and wrap in plastic. (I added a layer of wax paper over the plastic.)
Chill overnight. (If you want round cookies, start shaping the logs after they've started to firm up. That'll be easier than trying to reshape the very cold dough.)
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Slice the dough about 1/4-inch thick. (Place on a parchment-covered baking pan.) Bake 12-15 minutes, until slightly brown on the edges. Cool on rack. (Cookies are very soft when they come out of the oven, so don't try to remove them for at least 15 minutes.)
These will keep several days in an airtight container.
This just in: Jeanne made lemon verbena shortbread cookies tonight! They’re gooooood…
Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
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Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).