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Gardening (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter chris d
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hermie
Well-Known Member
Hey so didn't know where to ask this question. The last time I cut the grass out back a load of clover sprouted and brought with it a ridiculous assortment of bees. Which is great to see. I'm worried though if I cut it again it'll go and I'll fuck the poor lads over. Anyone any knowledge on what's the best thing to do? Obviously just leave it is an option but the missus is dead against that so...
Does she like PDFs from 2018?
EDIT: When i was back in LK I did the front and then did natural strips out the back to placate the neighbourhood watch facists.
I now have three fields lol
So here, how do youz address dealing with a big (small) field of overgrowth? Get a brushcutter and go crazy? Do I then just compost all the cuttings in a pile? Hello, what is "gardening"?
So here, how do youz address dealing with a big (small) field of overgrowth? Get a brushcutter and go crazy? Do I then just compost all the cuttings in a pile? Hello, what is "gardening"?
Year 1 I'd just cut in a few paths and clearings with a mower or scythe and see what happens over 12 months, maybe get a little winter veg strip on the go.
A big pile is fine, three smaller piles is better so you can extract from them in rotation.
Orientation is very important - is it southern facing, what is southern facing? will trees cast shadows on the house/houses?
It depends what you want. If its acres of neat lawn then i'm the last person you should be listening to.
you have to buy a scythe. them's the rules.
or else borrow some goats.
Or goats with scythes.
Probably not too far off what you'd want. It's only really this years worth of proper overgrowing, i'd say the last people gave up taking care of it after/during last summer, they had a pretty good wild but contained set up.
Christ, I can't be trusted with a scythe.
Get in quick before the 2020 scythe boom
is it turning into a meadow, or overgrown with brambles, etc?
Brambles, lots of bastard nettles, the bane of childhood.
Brambles will pretty much take over everything if you don't cut them back. Apparently the best thing for them is a flail mower, but it's hard to find one for rent (I only found one near here once, and when it arrived it would only drive around in circles).
You can get other rough-ground mowers but they tend to knock the grass over and form a thatch on the ground. I really don't recommend strimmers - if you have weedy growth (especially buttercups) it all just turns to mush and it's super frustrating and slow to get through.
We have a few wild areas that I cut once a year, would normally rent some kind of mower for the biggest one but this year I couldn't get one and mowed it all with the scythe. Very hard work, but really it did a much better job than any of the mowers I rented ever did - everything cut fairly cleanly, no thatch left behind. This is the area (mowed it June weekend, the green is the growth since then) - it doesn't quite fit into the photo but will give you some idea of how big it is. Took me around 8 hours to mow (4 hrs first day, day off cos I was fucked, then 2 days with 2 hours each)
You can get other rough-ground mowers but they tend to knock the grass over and form a thatch on the ground. I really don't recommend strimmers - if you have weedy growth (especially buttercups) it all just turns to mush and it's super frustrating and slow to get through.
We have a few wild areas that I cut once a year, would normally rent some kind of mower for the biggest one but this year I couldn't get one and mowed it all with the scythe. Very hard work, but really it did a much better job than any of the mowers I rented ever did - everything cut fairly cleanly, no thatch left behind. This is the area (mowed it June weekend, the green is the growth since then) - it doesn't quite fit into the photo but will give you some idea of how big it is. Took me around 8 hours to mow (4 hrs first day, day off cos I was fucked, then 2 days with 2 hours each)
Oh and as you can see, I'm just leaving the cuttings where they are, they'll do no harm. I was gonna make them into hay for the laugh, but then it rained
A "thatch on the ground"? As in a matted mess/mush that blocks the soil?
Yeah ... it's doesn't really do any harm, as such, but it's prime slug habitat
Is there anywhere for the local youths to sniff glue?
I'm gonna consult the DIY thread and construct them a Cans Shelter.
Make it big enough for me to sleep off my late 50's in.
@Lili Marlene
Nice one!
If you have brambles, then what's happening is your land is trying to do is succession. If land is capable, it will do succession all the way to a beautiful forest, and that's what brambles growing is trying to tell you.
You yourself will never get rid of brambles. You can go out this year, and paint glyphosphate onto every one of them, and they will all die, and you will rejoice in your dominance. And they will come back next year, and they will keep coming back, and you will have an everlasting fight on your hands which you can't win.
But the solution is easy, let something else do the fighting for you: trees. Trees are the next step in the line of succession, and they will drown out your brambles in a couple of years. That will be it, no more brambles.
The summer might be a bit late to plant trees, but if you look around in the brambles you might find there are saplings already there trying to do their thing. So, clip around the saplings, and get as much light down onto them as possible. Also go wandering about the place looking for yearling saplings, and try transplanting them into places you'd prefer them (assuming they are currently in places you don't want them). If you have too much money on your hands* you can buy trees in the autumn, and plant. Or you can keep at the sapling hunt, and plant your own. Find out what trees are suitable, they need to be native.
And this is pretty much the only rule in gardening. Don't work very hard. If you are working very hard, you're doing it wrong. Let something else do the work for you. Whether that's fungi, or worms, or other plants, it doesn't matter. There's more of them than you, and they are better at it than you.
If you have nettles, then you have good soil.
People grow nettles to improve their soil, plus they are really good for you, although you need to harvest them in the spring before they have stingers. If there's an area you want to clear, go at it with a strimmer and then see if you can find a free source of mulch. It can be anything, cow shit, wood chips, cardboard; doesn't really matter. Cover the strimmed bit of land with mulch. The roots will still be there, so you're going to hoover the shoots out. Then you have a patch of good soil for something else.
Lastly, never throw anything out.
Everything from your kitchen that was alive gets dumped into your land now. None of your weeds are ever thrown away, everything is composted. It doesn't really matter where or how for now, just pile crap up and it will be fine. If you have stuff from the kitchen you can dig a little hole somewhere, dump it in, and fill the hole. You can even do this with chicken carcasses, or bits of dead animal, but make sure you dig a deepish hole for that, ~50cm or something. If a fox finds it, you'll see it's dug it out, and oh well, dig deeper next time. Rats aren't going to be able to dig a half meter down.
*I shouldn't really say that. You can buy two year old trees as sticks almost, with no soil, in bundles, for very cheap. Something like a fiver a sapling depending on how many you buy. Then you can plant them. You might not get 100% transplant success, but in my experience it's very high at least.
Nice one!
If you have brambles, then what's happening is your land is trying to do is succession. If land is capable, it will do succession all the way to a beautiful forest, and that's what brambles growing is trying to tell you.
You yourself will never get rid of brambles. You can go out this year, and paint glyphosphate onto every one of them, and they will all die, and you will rejoice in your dominance. And they will come back next year, and they will keep coming back, and you will have an everlasting fight on your hands which you can't win.
But the solution is easy, let something else do the fighting for you: trees. Trees are the next step in the line of succession, and they will drown out your brambles in a couple of years. That will be it, no more brambles.
The summer might be a bit late to plant trees, but if you look around in the brambles you might find there are saplings already there trying to do their thing. So, clip around the saplings, and get as much light down onto them as possible. Also go wandering about the place looking for yearling saplings, and try transplanting them into places you'd prefer them (assuming they are currently in places you don't want them). If you have too much money on your hands* you can buy trees in the autumn, and plant. Or you can keep at the sapling hunt, and plant your own. Find out what trees are suitable, they need to be native.
And this is pretty much the only rule in gardening. Don't work very hard. If you are working very hard, you're doing it wrong. Let something else do the work for you. Whether that's fungi, or worms, or other plants, it doesn't matter. There's more of them than you, and they are better at it than you.
If you have nettles, then you have good soil.
People grow nettles to improve their soil, plus they are really good for you, although you need to harvest them in the spring before they have stingers. If there's an area you want to clear, go at it with a strimmer and then see if you can find a free source of mulch. It can be anything, cow shit, wood chips, cardboard; doesn't really matter. Cover the strimmed bit of land with mulch. The roots will still be there, so you're going to hoover the shoots out. Then you have a patch of good soil for something else.
Lastly, never throw anything out.
Everything from your kitchen that was alive gets dumped into your land now. None of your weeds are ever thrown away, everything is composted. It doesn't really matter where or how for now, just pile crap up and it will be fine. If you have stuff from the kitchen you can dig a little hole somewhere, dump it in, and fill the hole. You can even do this with chicken carcasses, or bits of dead animal, but make sure you dig a deepish hole for that, ~50cm or something. If a fox finds it, you'll see it's dug it out, and oh well, dig deeper next time. Rats aren't going to be able to dig a half meter down.
*I shouldn't really say that. You can buy two year old trees as sticks almost, with no soil, in bundles, for very cheap. Something like a fiver a sapling depending on how many you buy. Then you can plant them. You might not get 100% transplant success, but in my experience it's very high at least.
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