Try vinegar, and you can put it into a pump-up sprayer. It works.

Vinegar is not selective. It will kill everything. Hand pull or use a weed hound if you don't use chemicals.

What is a weed hound?

"What is a weed hound?"

Here is a link to their website.

Thanks for the link. Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to use it. As I said, there's not enough space so that I could get to the weeds to use it. That is why I was asking about other solutions. I can spray over the fence or through the slates, but that's the only way I can do anything about them. I can pull a few of them out on my side, but the majority are on the other side which is inaccessible.

If you carefully apply round up, and not spray it indiscriminately, you be able to apply a chem safely so it doesn't affect the dogs or the plants. Cover the plants that you don't want to kill with a plastic, use a paint brush to apply glyphosate directly to the plants that you do you want to kill,

(I would buy generic glyphosate, and not the name brand stuff.)

And once you get the plants killed, I would apply a heavy mulch between the fences, to reduce the amount of plants that grow there in the future. And I would reapply a heavy mulch, every year.... dump thick layers of wood chips between the fences would keep plants from growing between the fences. OR I would plant something between the fences that would be aggressive enough to outcompete the weeds, but not so noxious that you don't want it growing there.

Cup plant and Joepyeweed might be worth trying to replace the noxious weeds with pretty flowering aggressive perrenials that are good for the birds and butterflies.

Gly is non residual so once it dries it wont harm any thing.It also has very low translocation which means it wont travel through the plants to effect other portions.It also has no soil activity so it will not stay in the soil.You have to spray green portions for it to work and you need to hit the top 50% of the plant so if you spray right you wont hurt any thing that you dont want.If bleach is an option you should re-think your organic aproach.Salt will change the ph of the soil and can lead to nutrient lock.This means that plants are unable to get nutrients and would be far worse than round up.I use round up on all my properties every month with no negative effects.I also use it in the nursery with no problems.You have to be carefull thats all

I'm sticking with the vinegar in a small spray bottle as an organic method. If you can spray RoundUp carefully, you can spray vinegar carefully. It works, and breaks down completely in the soil in 48 hrs. I actually use very small amounts of vinegar in my aquarium as a food source for plants as it breaks down - it's tough to be more organic than that!

Hi all. I am most interested by this talk on organic weedkillers.I have a few rockeries wich are constantly invaded by bindweed and oxalis.I've not used any weedkillers because I'm afraid the stuff might end up in the ponds in wich there are goldfish.So if I get this right,using vinegar could kill the weeds and if some ended up in the ponds,it would feed the aquatic plants?What about the fish? Thanks for your answers. T.

Yes, and maybe. The vinegar will kill the plants it is sprayed onto. Actually, household vinegar is marginal (it is only 5% acetic acid). Some farmstores and garden centers can get the 15% stuff.

When vinegar breaks down, it can be a carbon source (like carbon dioxide) for plants. That's good. The problem is that if it gets to the pond as vinegar, it can affect the pH. Like most things, a little is good, but more can be bad.

Thanks Andy.

FWIW, 15% vinegar is way more toxic and dangerous to handle than glyphosate.

IMO, handweeding and mulch are the most effective organic weed control. The OP describes a situation where hand weeding is not practicle.

But you should not use glyphosate near fish or water. They do make a variation of the product that is safe for fish and water. Vinegar may be okay near water, but you would have to be careful, large quantities could lower the pH...