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Q: I enjoy reading your column in the Edmonton Journal and you have helped in the past settle a bet with my husband. You told me I was right, which I greatly appreciated.
I had planted Snow on the Mountain, or Goutweed, under a strand of trees where nothing else had been able to grow. I have a flower garden adjacent to this area bordered by 12 cm high bricks. The Snow on the Mountain started to creep into the flower bed in the past year.
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I have been spraying it with a herbicide, which I would rather not do. My plan to eradicate the spread is to bury a root barrier around the flower garden but I am not sure what to use. Searches on the internet have not been helpful. Also, how deep should I bury the barrier?
A: I take no responsibility for settling domestic gardening disputes and am here to simply answer gardening questions to the best of my ability and with accuracy but you’re welcome.
As for the goutweed, I am very familiar with this scourge having dealt with it in a previous house in Greenview. It serves a great purpose under the trees as you mentioned but it simply will not stay contained. I finally had some success using 20cm deep landscape edging which I installed around the edge of the goutweed. Bury it the full 20 cm depth.
If you can find the edging even deeper all the better. When choosing the landscape edging look for one that is of a professional grade and not the inexpensive variety. The heavier the better.
Q: I had a problem this year with my sunflowers. They grew but were very spindly. It was so bad that I tried tying them to stakes but even then they kept falling over. What could the problem have been for them being so spindly?
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A: Most likely the sunflowers were not getting enough sun. Most sunflowers like to be in full sun for the majority of the day. If they are not or are shaded they will stretch for the sun so much that they make themselves spindly in the process. Where to plant sunflowers is an important consideration. Full sun is the best bet.
My apologies on the slow reply to some of your email questions. My email box has been very full as of late which is a good thing as it means you have lots of good gardening questions I’m just a little slow in getting to them all. Please keep them coming and I will get to them all whether you see the answer in my column or in a personal reply.
Every week, Growing Things Outdoors runs online at edmontonjournal.com or, if you prefer an epaper format, epaper.edmontonjournal.com
Learn more by emailing your questions to filipskigerald@gmail.com, reading past columns or my book Just Ask Jerry. You can also follow me on X @justaskjerry01.
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