Lawns - remove weeds from curb

I wanted to see if anyone has any cheaper, easier or less toxic ideas ... My house is the only one on the street, that has lots of weeds growing in the crack between the street and the curb. How can get rid of them?

- They have too good a start for me to pull them: I've yanked pieces out of the road trying
- They eat string on the line trimmer, plus they grow back quickly
- It seems like a lot of weed killer, costing a lot of money, to cover the whole thing. Where is that much toxic chemical going to end up?

Unless someone has any better ideas, I'll put yet another roll of string in the trimmer and get them yet again.

If it were me I'd go with a weed and grass killer with long term or extended killing action.There are a variety of them out there that will kill for a whole season or most of it.Yes it puts chemicals out there but you only do it once and you only have to coat the area not overly soak it down etc.

Otherwise you are out there ober and over plus there's growth there between the jobs.And in your case actual pulling isn't an option.

I know you don't want chemicals, but roundup with a foaming spray nozzle works quite well for this and you end up only doing it once a year or so. The foam nozzle seems to cover a wider are (cracks) without having the runoff. Once they are dead use the string trimmer to clean up the cracks.

For a slightly less toxic method you could use salt, but don't use too much as it is also not good getting into ground water.

Salt will damage the curb. Spray with Roundup. Only spray the foliage, do not soak the entire area. The Roundup is absorbed by the plant and migrates to the root, killing the root.

You can use a propane torch. If you burn them to a crisp, the roots may survive and grow again.

The trick, I have heard, is to only heat the weed until it wilts. It will cause the root to expend a lot of energy to re-grow the top and it will expire.