Garden Projects

The fall off the extension ladder really messed me up for this year.  But I am getting back into yardwork.   The immediate problem is invasive weeds from a previous neighbor.  They planted them, they crept into my back yard, and they spread .  My neighbors had an empty back yard, so they just mowed them down (when they realized they were a a problem) every week until they died.

I was not so lucky.  I have flowerbeds.  The vines got in there.  I can't just mow them to death like my neighbors could.  I have pulled them up, but they have deep roots and return.

And I have a few verigated Euonymus shrubs in the flowerbeds that are growing out of control (label said 5' high and 3' wide).  Right.  10' tall and wide is more like it!  And they went all solid green after a few years, so not even much color interest.  I cut them down; they grew back.

Well, it gets worse.  When I first moved here I planted a row of forsythias along the property line (pre-fence).  They are everywhere now!  Cutting them down to the ground doesn't bother them a bit.  They just grow back.  I am nearly at my wit's end between the vines and forsythia!

So it is time for drastic measures (did I mention the poison ivy?).  

I've cut most of the vines to ground level.  I've cut most of the forsythia to ground level.  I've even removed (temporarily) the cat memorial markers.

Iza's is inbetween those now, but I can't find the picture.

But I have been saving large cardbox boxes for a decade.  REALLY large ones.  Like 5' on a side and doubled unfolded.  The memorial garden will be covered with several to smother the cut shrubs and vines and leave a clear space for the markers.

I bought a large roll of black plastic several year ago.  Time to unroll some and cut it to shape to smother the vines elsewhere.  Some collections of desired flowers grow so vigorously, they aren't invaded, so those will be left uncovered.  I have about half the flowerbed to smother though.  The plastic covers will stay there for a year.

It will be ugly.  But I don't see a way around it.  I can dig up a few individual plants surviving among the vines (a single beloved Brunella Frost for example) to move elsewhere.  The Stokes Asters seen resistent to the vines, so they will stay.

But really, I am nearly starting over for 80% of the flowerbed.  Next Fall (assuming the damn vines are actually dead by then) is going to be a busy time.

But I will take a cheerful view.  It's a chance to better this time with new look.  Self-sowing cottage-garden style plants that grow so thickly that they shade out weeds.  Separated by small patches of perennial like Stokes Aster and Autumn Joy Sedums (I love both).  

I WILL make my flowerbeds good again!

But, as I said, it sure will look ugly for a year...  Sometimes you have to mess things up before they get better again.

Garden

 Well, I finally got something done in the garden today.  Between last year when it just stayed cold and dry and nothing thrived (I mean 2 TREES died) and this year when I fell off the extension ladder and couldn't get started until late in the season, it has been a bad 2 years.

I have seedlings of various veggies and flowers large enough to plant.  But the framed beds were weedy and the paths between were invaded by Horrible Vines.  It was a mess.  So the first thing I did was attack the vines.  They are a "gift" from a neighbor 15 years ago.  Some invasive type almost impossible to kill due to the depth of the roots.  

The neighbors killed their's because they could just keep mowing it.  Here it is mingled with flowers and the veggie garden.  It has a flower like this.

I SWEAR whatever a dumb neighbor does never causes them long-term problems but I suffer.  I have poison ivy and english ivy all around because of careless neighbors.  I don't hate my careless neighbors, but I sure "resent" them sometimes.

So, I have an electric string-trimmer.  I have a gas-powered one, but I'm afraid of the damn thging and I HATE the noise.  So I went after the vines in the paths with the electric.  You have to work at the vines from the top down, because otherwise they wrap around the shaft and stop it from turning.  I actually got pretty good at it.  

Which is sad I have to do that.  I bought an electric mower when I built the framed veggie beds.  Just enough room to move the mower between them.  Sadly, I didn't realize I could turn the corners.  I have to lift about 40 pounds to change direction.  I did that.  But it left vines on the sides.

So, the string trimmer.  It took 2 hours fighting to chop the vines (1/2 the time unwinding vines from the trimmer-head).  There are some corners I couldn't get at, but I will use the hedge-trimmer to take care of those.  

And the outside of the enclosure will take more work.  Vines grow up the sides of the enclosure and "shade is bad".  I'll have to use a pruner and cut them off at ground level and slowly to the ends.  Every photon matters to a veggie.

SO, after I whacked the vines I needed to prepare to plant tomatoes.  For several years, I used a red plastic groundcover.  It was supposed to reflect sunlight back up and cajuse insects to leave.  It was also solid plactic sheet, so I couldn't water through it.  I was watering individual tomatoes through the cut part around and that took a lot of time .

This year, I have 100 yards of permeable black plastic mesh 4' wide.   

 I can just water all the plants at once.  And it will suppress weeds.  So I rolled it out on one bed and anchored the ends with bricks, cut it to size for that bed (my beds vary) and dragged my tomato cages out of the weeds (Everything grows here).  There are maybe some disadvantages to being organic; every weed loves the yard too.

I set them on the landscaping fabric-covered beds for spacing.  But it was 6:30 and I needed dinner, so I put everything away for the day.  

Tomorrow, I cut slices in the fabric in the center of the spaced cages, remove the cages, and plant tomatoes (and bell peppers around them) and cukes and melons and squash.  If it is too late, well, I'll still try.  And there is still time for a Fall crop of minor veggies like spinach and radishes.  

I am PRETTY much recovered from the ladder fall.  I no longer have the even think about walking normally, getting into the car is like it used to be, and I only notice it in bed when a part of my shoulder sticks up.  But at least it isn't stopping me from gardening.

And, next to the cats, gardening is important to me.

Been Busy

I haven't posted here in a while.  Not that I didn't have things to mention, just didn't do it.  I've been busy...

On the outside (and some of this may not be new but I'm too lazy to check, so forgive me):

1.  Transplanted 4 specimen saplings (2 dogwoods  and 2 sourwood) in the cleared area where the wild blackberries, virginia creeper vines and wild grape vines used to rule.  The saplings will stay about 20' tall and NOT shade the garden like the trees I removed did).

2.  Straightened and re-attached bent PVC tubes (with metal pipe inside) on the garden enclosure (I built it to keep squirrels, groundhogs, rabbits, and weird birds out.  Pollinating insects get through the chicken wire just fine.

3.  Been carefully spraying individual wild blackberries and vines to kill them.  New stuff is growing now that the blackberries aren't shading them, but a string trimmer cuts them down well.  When the sapling start to grow they will cast enough shade below them to prevent new growth.

4.  I used to have a compost bin next to the older shed.  I removed it a few years ago and built another one that is better.  But there was a foot of rich soil left over on the old site.  I moved most of it to the new garden beds.

5.  Years ago, I ordered a dozen seedlings of a nice perennial flower with purple leaves.  They sent me the wrong plant.  But as it also had purple leaves I didn't realize the error.  The wrong plant is VERY INVASIVE. (lychimastria 'Firecracker' I think).    I spent 2 days pulling up all that I could.  I'll have to do that several times, but progress is progress.  And there are some volunteers a 100 yard away.

6.  I have 2 toolsheds.  One I built when I moved here 32 years ago and one I had a contractor build (larger, with a cement floor, and a garage door).  I reorganized everything in both.  Now the equipment I seldom use is packed tightly in the old one and the stuff I use often is in the new one.  And I added shelves to the old one for odd stuff that was clutterring up the basement.

7.  I spread seeds for the meadow garden bed.  Some were saved seeds from last years plants and some were new from a packet.  Supposedly, they are are surface-germinators (well, like a natural meadow WOULD be).  I will be interested in seeing if the bed flowers better this year.

8.  The hummer/butterfly/bee bed was a failure last year.  So I tilled the whole area and spread a new batch of hummer/butterfly/bee seeds.  I also have a few dozen seedlings of the same sort to plant in there.  The seedlings will give the bed a head-start.

9.  I planted 15 annual sunflower seedlings in the meadow bed today.  They were weak last year when I did the same, so this year I planted them around a cylinder of mesh wire (anchored to a stake) and clipped them all the the cylinder.  That gives them 2' of support.  Strained my back doing all that bending-over...  I had 1 left over, so I planted it right behind the mailbox.  Maybe my mailperson will enjoy seeing it.

10.  I've been interested in grafted heirloom tomatoes for several years.  My efforts have always failed.  So this year, I bought 3 grafted tomatoes.  With shipping and taxes, $12 each.  OUCH.  But I really need to know if the effort is worth it.   I planted 2 today.  I have 6 graft attempts I did myself, but I won't know if they worked for a week.  At least THIS time, they are still alive after a week.  And I have 6 more home-grown ungrafted heirloom seedlings as back-up...

11.  I'm fighting some invasive plants.  I get poison ivy coming in from 3 neighbors.  They don't care about it because they don't go into the corners of their yards.  And there has been a vine from deliberate plantings of a 4th yard (2 residents ago).  I finally figured out it is Vinca Major.  It is almost impossible to kill.  My veggie garden is organic.  But I'll use napalm on the Vinca and poison ivy if I have to.  By "napalm" I mean Roundup.  I hate the herbicide, but the vines have taken over half my fence flowerbed.  I'm desperate.

12.  The daffodil/tulip/hyacinth bed is fading, so I gave them a good dose of organic fertilizer suited for bulbs.  That should help them improve for next year.  When the leaves turn brown I will cover the whole bed with landscape fabric to smother the weeds.  Next February, I will remove it.  I tried using regular black plastic last year but all it did was collect rainwater in low spots and Asian Tiger Mosquitos developed there.  So I was constantly going around and poking holes in the plastic to drain rainfall.  The landscape fabric is permeable, so it won't hold puddles.

13.  I planted corn in a bed under the roof edge.  It doesn't get much natural rain, so I'll have to water it regularly all Summer.  But it is rich soil and safe from wind, so the bi-color corn will like it.  I plant a block of 9 corns (3x3, fewer gets poor kernal development) and the bed is 4 blocks long, so I'll plant a new block every 2 weeks for continued harvest.

14.  I pruned my front yard saucer magnolia tree.  For some reason, the backyard one grows just fine with minimal pruning in Winter, but the front yard one grows oddly with lots of suckers and internal shoots.  By the time I was done, half the tree was gone, but it looked a lot better.  With careful future pruning, it should get more balanced.

15.  When I originally cleared the backyard back in the 90s, I discovered that I had a wild rose growing there.  It has small white flowers and a nice scent, and I think it is a 'Hawthorn Rose'.  Unfortunately, it looks just like a wild blackberry, and was overgrown with them among its canes.  I was sad to mow it down with the new DR Brushcutter I bought last year.  But I HAD to get rid of the wild blackberries.

Now, the main area in the backyard is cleared of wild blackberries, but there are some that spread to odd spots and I have to dig them out.

So when I saw white flowers suddenly blooming among a Burning Bush I love, I was depressed at the effort it would take to remove it.  But when I approached, there was The Scent!  The Hawthorn Rose had established itself 150' away from the original plant!

I have to remove it from the Burning Bush shrub, but I'm going to take 36 cuttings (a flat of 6-cels) and try to grow some first.  The rose never spread much from its original spot, so I'm not worried about it taking over like the blackberries did.  I can think of several spots where it would be happy (and I with it).

I think that is more than enough for today.  I still have the inside projects to discuss...

The Bramble And Sapling Jungle, Part 3

So, my back working again, and ready to wreck it again if need be (that area WILL BE CLEARED) I went at it again 2 days ago.  There were some last saplings to be chainsawed and hauled out of the way.  There was most of the underbrush and brambles to be mowed and turned into mulch, and there were vines still attached to saplings.

I went after the vines first.  My habit of bad luck is that any vine attached to a sapling I cut down will fall on me as opposed to away from me.  So the fewer of them connecting saplings, the better.

Funny thought:  The vines don't show up to neighbors.  They might have seen me thrashing around at ground level and up over my head with a hedge trimmer and concluded I was completely nuts, LOL!

But then I went after the remaining saplings with the chainsaw.  MUCH more carefully this time.  Instead of leaning over to cut, I knealt carefully so as not to strain any back muscles.  And I dragged the cut saplings instead of lifting them. 

After that, I took out the DR brush mower and went over the entire area.  I was so pleased to see the results...  I also chainsawed the saplings into stemless trunks.  The trunks are worth saving for the fireplace.  The twigs and vine debris went into piles. 

I used the brush mower on the piles of stems and twigs and vines.  It was like mowing leaves into the lawn until there was only leaf-shreds left.  HURRAY!

From the deck...

Closer...

And in directions all around the former jungle...

I was so happy to uncover my bridge...

And discovered a hose stand that had been covered with vines.

There is still debris there that I may or may not remove (it might smother new underbrush).  But the important thing is that the entire area is clear.

I finished it.  And with only some slight muscle complaints.  I'll count that as a victory.  

The next step is to make sure the undergrowth does not return.  Trees shaded them out before; I will plant new trees.  But these will be smaller ones; Dogwoods, Sourwoods, a dwarf apple...  They will shade the space under them, but never grow tall enough to shade the garden.  I have 4 in a raised bed ready to transplant in January and will have pre-dug holes ready to receive them.  I just need to decide exactly where to put each.

And I can get at the pond again.  That will be in Spring when things warm up.  It is too cold to try and install a new pond liner now.  But I WILL get the pond and raceway set up and working again come Spring!  That will be SO nice...

DR Brush Mower

I had brambles and wild blackberries and wild grape vines taking over 1/2 the backyard.  I tried lopping them down, I tried a hedge trimmer, I yanked and pulled.  Nothing was getting me anywhere.  The stuff grew as fast as I could cut.    And most of what I cut had thorns which managed to grab at me.  Some days, I looked like I had been attacked to a pack of rabid weasels.

So I bought a DR Brush Mower.  It wasn't an easy decision.  Those things aren't cheap.  And they come with serious warnings about possibly injury.  So I watched videos of people using them (happily and unhappily).  I read about them.

I admit that when I saw people just chopping and mulching shrubs and 1.5" saplings with the self-propelled kinds, I gave in. 

The delivery was all messed up (it got lost in Baltimore for 2 weeks), but it did arrive.  I uncrated it with some difficulty but got it freed.  I read the instruction manual 3x. 

It is a funny thing.  There are large heavily-treaded wheels on the back and pipes like thick sled runners in the front.  The engine could power a motorcycle.  The blade is a sharpened rod of metal 1/2" thick.  My riding mower blade is turned by rubber belts; this thing is all metal gears.  There are 3 forward speeds and 1 reverse by levers at the handle.

I got it started up in the garage and drove it around back.  I gave it a brief try into the edges of the brambles and it reduced them to mulch.  It doesn't cut and ground level like a lawn mower; it just pushes stuff over flat and grinds it up.

There are some limits.  It doesn't handle raised areas or stumps of saplings larger than 1.5 inches.  But OMG, does it chop up anything it can propel itself onto and over!  My first run-though was exciting; I left a path of mulch as I went.  The reverse gear is really valuable.  The brushmower gets into places where there are brambles left above, but just reversing pulls it back out.  Its not easy to turn around in tight places, but powered backing out helps.

It can't do much about grapevines and greenbriars hanging up in trees.  I've learned to use a hedge trimmer to cut through the wild grape vines and my electric chain saw to cut saplings over 1.5" at ground level first.  But using the brushmower to clear paths through the brambles gave me access to them.

Spent the first 2 days with the brushmower, cutting paths through the bramble and shrubs and small saplings.  Yesterday and today, I used the cordless hedgetrimmer to cut vines and small briars to get me access to the larger saplings.  I used the electric chainsaw to cut larger saplings. 

I was worn out, and rather minorly injured all over.  Even cutting as many vines as I could with the hedgetrimmer, there were still some out of reach creating odd tensions on the tree.  So everytime I used the chainsaw, expecting the 3" diameter tree to fall in a certain direction, it fell on me!

And malevolently!  The tree would fall, pushing of my hat, and then looping briars around my head.  This is AWFUL work!  But it is my fault I allowed things to get to such a state and I want to personally clear every last inch my self.  Matter of pride and obsession...

Here are "before" pictures...

And here are the first "after" pictures (before today's work which I haven't taken pictures of yet)...

More "after" pics soon.  But I can see some ground again.  I can see the back fence again. 

Been Doing Stuff

First, I have to mention that Bryce Harper of the Washington National baseball team just won the Home Run Contest.  YEEAAAHHHH!

Second, the pond renovation project is complete.  It was harder than I expected.  I originally pulled out all the pots from the pond, and that involved bending down with my arms in the pond cutting roots away to get chunks of plants.  It was exhausting in the heat, but having my arms in the water did help.

I finally got to the point where most of the pond was empty of plants and pulled it up.  That took 3 days of about an hour each day.  I couldn't find the leak in the preformed pond, which still bothers me.  So I added some soil around where I recalled the pond form was low and reinstalled it and filled it.  So after 3 days, there was no leakage, so it was time to replace plants.

Not in the original pots, of course.  I used regular pots years ago but I bought pots designed for ponds last year and used them.  Pond pots have lots is holes for  roots to seeks nutrients in the water.

The 8" pots I had, had growth  around them like beachballs.  So the first thing I did was to chop outside roots off.  That was surprisingly horrible.  The roots were too soft to cut easily.  I finally tried my "digger knife" (like  boning knife with a saw blade).  That wasn't really easy, not I got better using it as I went.

And THAT was only to be able to pull the existing plants out of the old pots (which were broken into pieces by root pressure). 

Planting pond plants is tricky.  You can't just replant them into new pots using regular potting soil (a lot of it just floats away).  What the pond plants want is "muck".  And I was really short on that.  And Home Depot doesn't sell "muck"

As far as I can tell, "muck" is a mixture of organic material, gravel, and clay bound by soil roots.  And you want some stones in the bottom of the pot for the weight to keep the pot sunk and upright.

So I retrieved all the previous pots (most of which didn't even have plants in them anymore - they escaped into the the general root mass) and soaked them in 5 gallon buckets.  When they well utterly soaked, I ripped them apart until the old gravel fell out and I was left with dead roots mass.

Not wanting soil to muddy the new pond water, I blasted the gravel in a large sieve.  I also blasted the ripped off root hairs (that wouldn't regrow).  I slowly cut roots of healthy plants  (waterlillies and Sweet flag) into replantable chunks.

Now I have 4 divided waterlillies potted in the 2' deep section of the pond and 10 potted sweet flag plants and there are still 20 seemingly viable chunks on sweet flag in buskets of water where they will be fine.  I'm keeping them indending them to grow in the the larger 8'x9' pond if I can get it cleared of brambles and relined this year.  Don't worry about all that standing water; I put bT  tablets in all containers monthly.

And that is the next major project.  An 1/8 acre of the backyard has been taken over by wild blackberries, english ivy, and some poison ivy.  Several years ago, my large pond developed a leak and went down to 6" of water.  And the mosquitos moved in.  I only realized the problem  when it was too late to kill the mosquito larvae with bT, so I poked more holes in the liner to drain it.

So now I have a new pond liner, but I have to clear all the space around it to set the new one in.  But it is surrounded with wild blackberries and they are delicious!  So I'm waiting until the harvest ends and then I will clear the whole area.

Today while the area was shaded, I weeded all around the astilbes in the front yard.  It was frustrating.  I added compost to the area last year and the weeds seem to have appreciated it more them the Astilbes.  And the weeds do better in the drought we are having here (not any rain in 4 weeks).  So I went out and pulled weeds out of the dry soil (the best time to do it) and then watered them deeply. 

I lost 2 of 30 Astilbes (according to landscape flags I stuck in when I planted, but that was better that I expected.  A few look weak, but most are thriving.  And I have a dozen more in the backyard where they are struggling.  If I can keep them going til Fall, I will transplant them to the front yard among the others. 

The yard has become infested with poison ivy and some vine.  I'll have to dig the poison ivy out (wearing armlength rubber gloves).  The vines are so widespread, I'll have to spray them.  I don't like that but I don't have much choice. 

There is always SOMETHING to fight with here...  I wish there wasn't.  I have other useful things to do.

Another Good Day Outside

Can you guess what these 2 garden paths and part of a flowerbed have in common?

No weeds!  And why?  They were covered all Winter with old black plastic sheeting!  The stuff was used several year elsewhere, had rip and holes and cutouts for various resons.  but folded up a couple times, it worked great to smother the winter weeds in the paths and bed  and then cook whatever was left in the hot sun the past few weeks!

I spread them out to dry, but actually I have a new use for them.  I have some annoying vine that a neighbor planted then mowed to death.  But not before it escaped to my yard where I can't mow.  This Summer will be a 'KILL THOSE VINES" project.  I don't like using herbicides near the garden, so I will use the string trimmer to cut them to ground level, then cover the areas with the many-times-used black plastic.  I have lots of bricks and stones to hold the plastic down.

They have gotten established in the old asparagus bed.  The asparagus is long gone (lasts about 20 years and they were planted 30 years ago).  Because there are also junk tree saolings growing there, I cut them down to ground level.  Obnoxiously, that won't kill them.  But I have an old piece of plywood that just fits.  So I will set that down AND put black plastic on top weighted down with old cinder blocks.  That old framed bed should be good to use again in 2 years.  Sometimes, things take time to passively improve.

The 2 dwarf apple trees have been in place for 2 decades and I've never gotten a ripe one from them.  The Evil Squirrels take then away before they are ripe.  And poison ivy has taken over the ground beneath them.  So very soon, I will use the hedge trimmer to cut the poison ivy to ground level (wearing a mask and elbow length rubber gloves that will go straight into soapy water in the basement laundry tub after), cover the ground with more of the old black plastic, and cut down the apple trees.

I will use a chain saw to lop the 3" thick apple wood trunks into small 1" slices for B-B-Q smoking, and wait for the poison ivy to smother under the plastic by next year. 

Poison ivy abounds here.  I have 2 neighbors who have parts of their yards they pay no attention to, and the stuff grows rampant.  Birds are immune to poison ivy and eat the berries, so they spread around all over.  I sometimes find new poison ivy plants growing where no poison ivy plant is near, so it has to be from seeds from bird-droppings.

Talking to my neighbors about it has no effect.  I even offerred to spray them myself, but they declined.   I meant the poison ivy, of course, but would consider the neighbors for being so oblivious.  LOL!