There was so much brush, we didn’t know where to put it! We already had accumulated 3 brush piles, and were planning to consolidate them into one, later, when they had compressed a bit.
We had a dumpster from the apartment renovation. We were also almost ready to begin our kitchen renovation. It’s very important to note, no plant material was ever put into the dumpster! Instead, the area next to the dumpster served as a good temporary holding area for brush. We attempted to keep invasive brush separate from non-invasive brush, however, that was impractical, back in 2011. Pretty much all of it had to be considered invasive.
Brush in temporary holding area, next to dumpster
Another temporary holding area for brush, August 2011. (Now, May of 2015, there is a lilac shrub right where that pallet used to be.)
We have become emboldened, and begin pulling phragmites and rhizomes from their most southeastern stronghold (far side of pond from house).
The huge patch of phragmites on the far side of the pond. Its days were numbered.It was difficult, even for the football guys, to make a dent in this patch of Phragmites. They piled them carefully onto a tarp.
Now, you can understand why we needed the strong guys!
Phragmites patches on the east side of the pond, before football players had at them.Phragmites on the east side of the pond, after the football players were able to pull out a patch, rhizomes and all.
One day, nobody was available to help, so I decided to go after a small patch of phragmites myself.
The important thing to understand, is that the more of the rhizome you can get out, which is underground, and connected to other rhizomes, the better. Imagine a giant, soggy piece of ginger root, with an eight-foot tall piece of grass attached to it.
My technique was to loosen the rhizomes with a shovel (being careful not to break off any fragments, which could root), and then see if they would pull out. If you find one that’s impossible, then work around it, removing its neighbors. In a few minutes, when you return to the stubborn one, it’s often ready to give up. All bits and pieces have to be carefully piled onto a tarp.
Here’s the “small” patch of phragmites I figured I could handle by myself.The same patch, after I dug out the phragmites.The same patch, after I dug out the phragmites.
“Well, that doesn’t look like much!” I hear you say. However, when you get down closer, you see how big they really are. Note the skinny shovel, which can be more precise, and also lighter, that gives an idea of the scale of things.
The H.S. football guys found it fairly easy to dig, say, a 6-foot-tall buckthorn out of the ground, roots and all. Multiflora rose roots aren’t as deep, so they were easier (for them).
While the big guys went after the slope, Elisha and I started cutting a path through the NW corner of the pond, where several beautiful quaking aspen trees were being strangled by massive bittersweet vines.
I wish I had a photo of it, but atop the steepest part of our riprap, was a giant old multiflora rose. Its stems were easily a couple of inches thick. It was scary. We had to at least have another way of reaching this thing, aside from above!
The back acre beyond the pond is now ours, acquired through a trade with the neighbors.
Just to get a general idea of what it took to accomplish what we did in summer of 2011, here’s a partial list of who did what, and when:
6/17/11 – Kirk helping with invasives
6/18/11 – Kirk helping with invasives
6/24 -25-26/11 – Alisha, Kirk, Leon
6/1-2/11 – Alisha, Kirk
7/1/11 – Alisha
7/6/11 – Alisha, Kirk, Reggie
7/7/11 – Kirk, Reggie
7/13/11 – Kirk, Reggie, Alisha
7/19/11 – Kirk
7/20/11 – Kirk
7/25/11 – Kirk
8/2/11 – Kirk, Reggie
8/3/11 – Kirk, Reggie
8/4/11 – Kirk
8/5/11 – Jim Henderson brush hogged the back acre.
8/20/11 – Kirk, Yaseen, Justin and I pulled phragmites for 6 hours.
9/26/11 – I pick up plants at Garden in the Woods. This feels like a reward.
Now that the septic system has been replaced, and the apartment is almost done, we can finally begin work in earnest, getting rid of our invasive plants!
In April 2011, we had a Public Hearing at Town Hall, where our wetlands consultant presented the necessary documents.
We are lucky to have a good friend who is knowledgeable about all kinds of shrubs and trees. We’re also fortunate to have a connection to a number of big and strong H.S. football players/weight lifters, willing to come over and help us.
My neighbor’s daughter, Elisha, and I hacked through the densest parts of our “jungle.” The centermost area of the north side of our pond, which was, ironically, not the largest patch of knotweed or phragmites, was a tangled mess of other invasives: buckthorn, autumn olive, multiflora rose, bittersweet and knotweed, and once we could see that far down, a smattering of spurge. There were also some rubrus (some sort of brambles) and grapevines all helping to knit it together. At that point in time, I could not imagine anything at all, ever growing on that slope. If nothing else, we wanted to at least create pathways, so it would be possible to access areas of infestation from various angles.
The middle part of the slope, looking down from the house, before we hacked through it.Middle part of slope, after Elisha and I had hacked through it
We managed to uncover what looked like a pretty decent willow, as well as the beautiful Juniperus virginiana. The latter is definitely a native. Note the brush pile in the back acre, above. We had covered the Phragmites and rhizomes already on a tarp, with another tarp, then weighted it down, because a strong tropical storm was expected, and we didn’t want anything to escape or blow away.
