Salting the earth

Salting the earth means covering the ground with salt so that nothing can grow there. People used to do this in ancient times as a way of punishing their enemies. By salting the earth, they destroyed their enemy’s crops, making it difficult or impossible for them to grow food and survive. It was an extreme punishment that often resulted in death or disaster. Nowadays, people don’t salt the earth to punish enemies but they do use it to help stop weeds from growing in their gardens.