woodland invasives/restoration/elimination
Meghan (southern VT, 5b)
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
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beesneeds
3 years agogardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
3 years agoRelated Discussions
Did I just buy more invasives??
Comments (6)I moved to where I am 8 years ago and have continued to battle the invasives my parents + their neighbors planted (not knowing they were invasives) 30 years ago. It was a hard lesson after moving here but the rule of thumb I've learned to live by is that anything that goes in the ground must be identified by botanical name before even a hole is dug to plant it. That has stood me in good stead but hasn't eliminated the problems that existed prior to my occupation. It eases my conscience that I haven't knowingly introduced anything to my little green acre that's considered invasive and that I continue to eradicate things that were, however inadvertently, introduced by the previous generation. Since you've learned your lesson, albeit the hard way, rather than burn the money, why not burn the suspect plants? Just another lesson learned the hard way. Altho' I haven't personally made that particular garden mistake in the past, I've made plenty of others for which I've either forgiven myself or blissfully forgotten. Good on you that you checked prior to planting so pat yourself on the back for that if nothing else....See MoreHelp in Woodland trail design
Comments (11)As long as you can dig down a bit without damaging tree roots it would work. It's a great way to use your land and make an interesting garden feature. Do you have rocks? I have watched videos on making rain gardens and read blog posts, so I'm somewhat familiar with the process. It seems like if you don't have access to lots of rocks on your property or extra soil + compost you're going to spend quite a bit to get it going. The dug portion is piled up on the outer sides, but I still think soil & compost is brought in to build the sides up like a berm, a labor intensive project if done by hand. Any materials you purchase bulk and a topsoil company is going to be less costly than bagged products at a big box store or garden center. I've built some lasagna gardens with a lower portion lined with rocks as dug from the land. As I find more rocks I add to the dry creek bed. Where nothing else will grow in a shady acid clay soil this has worked well. July 2012 backyard under trees near hose reel on house planted with burgundy ajuga, golden creeping jenny, ornamental grass Carex Ice Dance,& corsican mint as visible in the photo. The rocks start under the downspout and move across the garden leading out toward a fir tree and another path. Round concrete stepping stones lead to the this area and help keep our feet out of the poorly drained area during winter storms. We're in the midst of planting Ajuga Chocolate Chip around the stones layering over the thin sod with newspaper & compost. The ajuga has filled in well for us in other areas if kept moist until established. newly layered over sod around stepping stones on the left side In our front yard we dug out a portion of clay soil to create a rock pathway from the gravel driveway through the front yard to a trail in the woods. In 2 spots we dug down 4 feet deep & 2-3 feet wide then filled with rocks. The runoff from rain flows from the driveway into the garden path. All the rocks were from our years of vegetable gardening and uncovering them. Before laying down the rock path we spread landscape cloth on top of the soil. We used free broken patio blocks as stepping stones. Then on the sides expanded the existing garden by layering over the soil first with cardboard then upturned sod from the pathway plus lots of partially composted horse manure + bedding and whatever other compost ingredients we came upon. Since then the mounded beds have shrunk down considerably, but the plants are doing quite well in the rich earth. early July 2012 where the path meets the woods with herb garden on the right and garden of spreaders or thugs on the left Many of the plants were picked up free at plant swaps over the past few years. What grows well also duplicates itself here, so I've made many more plants as they've spread and matured. What doesn't make it in this rich, moist soil gets tossed....See MoreRe-establishing natives in Woodland restoration project
Comments (36)My ambitions have scaled back considerably - I now clear much smaller areas at a time - no more than I can easily resow with native grasses and flowers. I allow myself a blast of herbicide to do away with the worst of the nettle and bramble and hand weed until the grass and flowers are growing well enough...and I am still propagating as many plants as I can after the initial shock of proudly clearing the first huge bramble patch (a million tiny brambles appeared almost overnight)...and I have decided to get along rather than fighting all the time. I have a little wheeze at present, using the brambles as 'nurse' plants. They have shallow and not terribly competitive root systems while also making good natural tree guards so I cut back the longest canes, thin some out at the base and plant maiden whips in amongst the blackberries. The little saplings benefit from the support (and although deer pressure is very slight, the bramble also helps with protection against the infrequent water deer incursions)...and bulbs are turning out to be the restorer's friends - over 10,000 bulbs in 3 years are beginning to make little pools of light and colour... I let the celandines have their head, as well as wood anemones. It still feels terribly experimental and contingent...but nonetheless, I have planted the first trees I raised from seed this autumn - little understorey rowans (sorbus)....See MoreNativizing a woodland
Comments (8)What you are doing is awesome and you are the hero of the week! Girdle those Norway Maples. You can do it in a few minutes with a hack saw. Just carve a nice valley in the bark, in a continuous ring around the tree. End of tree. No need to pay thousands for an arborist to chop it down. Leave the dead tree in place for wildlife to use it: woodpeckers, small mammals, etc. For the replacement species, you already called it: local pines, oaks, and birches. Those are the foundation species of the forests of eastern North America. Let them seed the area naturally. Don't spend thousands on some landscape designer who will want to bring out expensive, colorful container specimens and plant them with little stakes and mulch beds. Mother Nature knows how to restore better than any landscape designer does. She has been doing it for millions of years. She will be guaranteed to do it faster and cheaper. Just get the alien species out of her way and let her do her work. If you have to spend money or use an "expert", don't call some landscape designer. Call a conservation ecologist or, even better, a forester. Those guys know what they're doing. Their job is to regrow forests quickly for the timber industry. They typically scatter seed, plant seed, plant 18" seedlings, and/or let an area naturally seed....See MoreMeghan (southern VT, 5b)
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoMeghan (southern VT, 5b)
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoJay 6a Chicago
2 years ago
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