Question:
Is there a way to permanently remove weeds from sidewalk cracks and in-between the street and the sidewalk? They are very hard to get at because the crack is so narrow.
Sandy Feng,
Maple Ridge
Answer:
You can get the best results by removing as much as you can manually then dosing the bits of roots that remain.
First, for the sidewalk weeds that are shallow-rooted, you could start by pulling those. For any that are tap-rooted, you could get an old, thin kitchen knife (if you don’t have one, you could find one in Value Village or perhaps a thrift store). If you can’t get the taproots out, try to shred them in place with the knife.
But removing weeds from anywhere permanently is really an elusive dream. The best you can hope for is removing them for a long time.
The dosing options include salt. This sterilizes soil so nothing will grow for a while. But it needs to be used with care. This area tends to be a rainy place, and water is a determined traveller.
As a result, if your sidewalk/road cracks are on a slope, the salt will travel downhill and cause problems to plants wherever it ends up.
Water can also leach any substance in the soil down to greater depths and neutralize its presence in the top layer of soil. This means that soil which has been sterilized with salt gradually becomes more and more receptive to seeds blowing into that area.
Boiling water is also a potential weed-killer. It’s cheap and easy, but accidents with it could be horrific. So it shouldn’t be used where young children or animals are around – or older people with poor balance.
Vinegar is another weed-killer. Ordinary white vinegar (acetic acid) kills top growth but doesn’t touch taproots unless you’ve worked them over first and shredded them with something sharp. Then it can work very well.
Horticultural vinegar is the key ingredient in organic weed-killers. You can find this in garden centres. It doesn’t touch deep taproots either but is much more effective than household vinegar. Horticultural vinegar is so strong it needs to be used with respect, but it works well and there’s usually a useful pause before it leaches away and weeds get a chance to return.
Flame weeders run on small bottles of propane. Weeders kill top growth and incinerate seeds, though new seed can still blow in. But take care: ours burned holes in landscape fabric under a gravel patio.
Question
I planted a bare root damson plum tree four years ago. It looks very healthy, but it has never bloomed. Is this normal?
Sharon Lowe,
Vancouver
Answer:
Yes. It’s quite normal.
It would likely have been about two years old when it arrived in your garden. From there, you would need to wait about four to six years while your little tree is forming vegetative growth.
I have grown damson trees and they do take ages to get going with blossom – and don’t be surprised if the first two years the blossoms are a bare handful. But once they start, you’ll get more every year until the tree is covered each spring.
Anne Marrison is happy to answer gardening questions. Send them to her via [email protected]. It helps if you can include the name of your city or region.
