You can never have enough straw. Here’s a closer-up photo. The straw helped prevent erosion over the winter months, and also helped to subdue the sprouting of numerous ground-level invasives, which were sure to rear their ugly heads, now that we had removed much of the shrub layer.
We were lucky to have a friend with a greenhouse, who had lots of extra plants (trees!) he was trying to find homes for. We were the recipients of about 3 dozen baby tree lilacs, and around 10 baby Osage Orange trees (plus a number of magnolias and redbuds). We designated a nursery area, on the west side of our property. Here, we could easily keep an eye on things, and the hose reached over there as well.
We found a source for wood chips. You can never have enough wood chips. We covered our tractor with a tarp, and we covered the nursery area with straw, for the winter.
1 Juniperus Chinensus “Blue Point” – next to where knotweed was
1 – Picea Pungens “Glauca” “baby blue” – spruce – #2, SW corner of pond
1 – Salix Purpurea “nana” Blue Arctic Willow – on E slope
1 – Ilex Meserveae “Honeymooners Holly” – front, NE corner
1 – juniperus horizontalis “blue chip” – for steeper part of slope
1 – Juniperus Squamata “Blue Star” – for stabilization of slope
1 – Azalea “Rosebud” – front, NE corner
35? – Syringa reticulata – tree lilac babies – in nursery area
3 – Cornus Alba “Elegantissima” – Red Twig Dogwoods – shadier slope area
1 – Cornus Alba “Elegantissima” – Red Twig Dogwood – front, NE corner
5 – Cercis canadensis – redbud trees – nursery area, E side of house
1 – Magnolia Stellata – magnolia
1 – Magnolia Soulangeana (“Leonard Messel”) saucer magnolia
1 – Magnolia Loebneri – magnolia
1 – Magnolia Encore – (might be the same as loebneri or star)
Smack dab in the middle of the slope, lived a particularly pernicious mass of knotweed rhizomes. We had been trying to cut it back for a couple of years, we tried to dig out as much as we could, however, none of that seemed to be working. Finally, I took a big black tarp, and just covered it up. I weighted down the tarp around its edges and a little of its middle. I didn’t want to cover the whole thing because I wanted the sun to make it as hot as possible.
This tarp was there for quite a while, but it did the trick!
We also got several bales of straw and spread them around the slope. You can also see a pile of boulders in the far right; when our septic system was replaced, we asked them to put any large boulders in this area. This is the same area where a protective black landscape fabric type of barrier fence had been erected, to protect what lie below it, so we figured the boulders would be most beneficial here, if or until we found a better place for them.
The Phragmites had been pulled; a significant number of stalks and rhizomes had been removed. In the autumn of 2011, we did a very careful application of the recommended herbicide to its remaining stems. We were fervently hoping to have dead Phragmites next spring, instead of alive and green Phragmites.
Furthermore, we actually had planted something on the slope. Earlier that year, I found a slow-growing Blue Star Juniper for a great price at Costco (on left, surrounded by mulch and rocks). To the left of the boulders is a Blue Point Juniper, also from Costco. You can also see the gorgeous, dark green of a native Juniperus virginiana (“Eastern Red Cedar”), with a larger pine to its left, and a smaller pine volunteer to its right.
By November, we had succeeded in removing so many invasive plants from the slope area that I became concerned about water just rushing down the slope, with no plants to stop its progress.
There weren’t that many “good” plants remaining, after we took out the invasives. There were about 3 willows, and a few other smaller shrub/trees. However, the ground only had smaller plants, like tiger lilies and some lower-growing perennial invasive plants that I (fortunately) had not identified yet.
We had to think creatively. I drove many miles to an Agway, to pick up a roll of landscape jute. It turns out, this stuff is wonderful for a slope! We’re also fortunate to have neighbors with laying hens, who shared some of their wonderful compost. I layered the compost with leaves, some unfinished compost I had, some wood chips, etc., “lasagne” style, then covered the whole area with the jute, tacking it down with staples.
A friend whose property was “overplanted” sold us his Kioti tractor. Trying to get up to speed, I studied its users’ manual and read online discussion groups of people who use tractors. At first, it was a bit intimidating, however, soon I learned that with very careful use, it was an indispensable tool. Plus, now we could brush hog our own back acre.
I learned about all the cool attachments you can get for these things. As a middle-aged female with arthritic joints, I soon developed a mean case of “tractor envy,” every time I drove by a certain house in town. This person had every imaginable tractor attachment, and I wanted them all! Soon I realized, you don’t really need that many. We have a 16-inch bucket, 24-inch bucket and a brush hog attachment. A year later, we acquired a “thumb,” which comes in handy in picking up large boulders.
Progress has been steady.
We hacked through the central part of the “jungle” on the slope.
We went after significant patches of Phragmites.
The Knotweed was soon to suffer a similar fate.
Planting anything was still inconceivable, yet, something had to take the place of all those invasives!
Steve has cut and piled many stalks of knotweed. Then, into the small portion of its stem remaining in the ground, he carefully injected a very small amount of herbicide. Knotweed is hollow, like bamboo, so this is the best time of year to do this, when the plant is drawing energy down into its roots.
We had made progress. Two years earlier (it would have been less, without our huge renovation and septic replacement), this is what it had looked like:
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.
