Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Are you Stumped?

Well I am talking about Old Roots
Fall is a neat time of year, but then I like all of the seasons and what they offer. Sounds trite I suppose… It seems no matter how well you plan there is always something else that needs attention. But then that just makes LIFE more interesting.
The soil in this particular area is clay based and not conducive to digging easily. Case in point the Green Fence we planted last week. We muster on for sure; bit by bit the improvements are beginning to show.

Close to the Big Barn is a row of trees that were once part of a fence line. In recent years it was a horse pasture. When the time came that the horse was no longer here and the final realization that we were never probably getting sheep…bit by bit the old fence came down. In this particular area I found some HUGE stones, which my Sweetie and youngest son moved to a different area. [Ah yes a possible project that is on the back burner, for now]
I took the weed eater and whacked the crap out of that area. I knew there was poison ivy there because many of the vines are in some of the trees. What I wanted to do was get the LITTLE stuff on the ground around the existing trees semi contained. My Sweetie had sprayed and that indeed was a help.

Now we are trying to get the little Stumps of icky scrub down to the bare earth so one can walk around it without falling flat on ones face. Right into the poison ivy YIKES!

As I stretch from the arduous task of weed eating I watch the fall leaves gently float down to the meadow. The birds begin their pre flight instructions from their parents…the Canada geese sail overhead and the butterflies are abundant. Squirrels are delighted as many walnuts PLINK off the barn roof. The Hickory nuts are not near the barn so THAT plink is only noticed when one hits near where you walk the dogs. Oh how funny that was when Jazzy got Beaned…

Yup Fall is here I even have started wearing socks… ;)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not only fall has arrived in Northern Ontario we have the first snow..
Thank you for your visit..
cheers Gisela

DeeMom said...

DANG snow already...

:)

dot said...

You have a beautiful place. Lots of work I'm sure!

Anonymous said...

Dang. Dad-gummit. You brought back a ton of old memories. I had forgotten about a "green fence" until today and while I never had enough money to build one like you did, I did use Multi-flora Roses which took an arm and leg to remove a couple of years later. What a mistake that was.

What kind of "poles" trees did you plant for the fence? I know you can plant some sticks and propagate bushes and shrubs and even trees but I no longer remember what trees work best.

I really enjoyed this blog post and read through it twice already. It doesn't sound like fun to me but that is the kind of thing I used to do when I was more healthy than I am today -- and a lot younger.

I am in the process of trying to do away with lawn grass (environmental issues -- mowing, fertilizer, etc) and substituting clumps of decorative grasses of all kinds. Not bamboo but I do have some grass that grows over 6 feet tall and the stalks look similar to bamboo or fishing poles in the winter.

My wife helps me and right now I have to dig a hole with my left foot. I have so many problems that I have to invent new ways to do things.

DeeMom said...

Thanks Dot. I bet everyone that has a home is constantly working on it to improve whatever, inside and out.
It is truly a work of love, but then we enjoy seeing the improvements. ESPECIALLY the ones that WORK!

Yikes Abraham Multi-flora Roses, OH boy.
We had some of those here years ago, but then when we had goats they made short work out of that dilemma. As well as many other things we wished they had NOT gotten into.

Oh well live and learn.

“What kind of "poles" trees did you plant for the fence?”
Not sure what you mean, we do stake the trees more for the “sight” factor when we mow and or weed eat.

We lucked out with the Hemlocks, they were a very reasonable price, besides we got the small ones, both as a $ item as well as we knew where we planted them the soil was/is just plain difficult to work with.
In the past several years we have gotten a tad smarter, and added certain elements to the nasty soil. Peat, manure, etc…works wonders. Three years ago I planted Thuga Giants, and they are doing quite nicely. Again we got the trees small, and upon looking at them and the Hemlocks they are about the same age and size…
Could not have planned that better had I actually tried. ;)

Decorative grasses what a wonderful idea, we have several near our pond and they make a beautiful display. Besides the bugs get into them then drop off into the pond and the bass are appreciative… ;)

“I have to invent new ways to do things.” Yup we all do that I figure, but there lies the challenge!