Lush Heritage

Celebrating a conservation-leaning approach to living well and the DIY spirit.

Decluttering a Triangle of Trees

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As you know, I am a very big fan of old trees – maple, birch, willow, linden, to name a few. Mature specimens of many of my favorites dot the property. Luckily, I can enjoy their unparalleled beauty through virtually every window in the house. I’m very grateful to the prior owners of the past 200+ years who cared for these trees so they could reach their full potential or who selected species of trees that have so enhanced my little patch of green.

Keeping these trees clear of underbrush and vines is an ongoing priority as they add a graceful grandeur to the property that I doubt any manmade feature could.

Two weeks ago, I finally cleared beneath a stately old maple that lies west of the house and fire pond. 

Doing so emphasized two nearby accent trees, a golden arborvitae and bald cypress that together with the maple form a lovely triangle. One that was overdue to be decluttered.

The Maple

It’s one of the grandest trees here and has survived decades of vicious New England weather with very little damage. However, an unsightly “bracelet” of underbrush had grown beneath it, diminishing its presence. I strongly believe that a tree trunk should be largely unobstructed in order to properly showcase the tree.

It took only two hours to cut and remove the unwanted vegetation. I was very pleased with the result which is shown in the featured image for this post.

Why did it take me three and a half years to finally do this? Well, a major reason is that I was worried about cutting any deliberate understory plants. I could identify only invasive bittersweet and burning bush and a deciduous azalea which was almost completely hidden by mystery greenery (even when loaded with gorgeous lilac blossoms). Fortunately, my two neighbors whom I’ve known for most of my life are very knowledgeable gardeners and have been answering my gardening questions.

Green Trash vs. Green Treasure

Two weeks ago, one of them kindly walked with me around the maple and identified the only other keeper hiding the trunk:  fothergilla. I’d never heard of it, couldn’t remember it looking or smelling spectacular and would have cut it, if she hadn’t told me what it was.

Based on my quick research: fothergilla is a shade-tolerant North American native and has wonderfully fragrant bottlebrush-like white flowers in spring; it also pairs well with azaleas and rhododendrons. I don’t know which variety grows here, but given its size I suspect it’s Fothergilla Major (Mountain Witch Alder). If that’s what I have, it’s also the recipient of the Cary Award which recognizes outstanding plants that thrive in New England. As I’ve noted in other posts, I think it’s a good idea to postpone cutting a plant until you know what it is! Of course, if the plant poses an imminent threat, then it should be removed as soon and as safely as possible.

What else did my neighbor identify? Invasive honeysuckle. As soon as she said it, I was itching to cut it to the ground! No doubt, it and the burning bush had outcompeted the fothergilla. As we pushed back the invasives we also discovered lovely stonework, a clump of yuccas, and what appeared to be a type of geranium (or, possibly violet) ground cover. Such lovely surprises. We’re both eagerly awaiting next spring to see what other desirable plants may be growing there.

No Herbicide Yet

In this location, I would have preferred to eradicate the invasives permanently by dabbing the cut stems with an herbicide that I’ve had great success using. However, once plants go dormant in the fall, they likely absorb less herbicide, rendering it much less effective. Cutting and dabbing is slow work so when I do it, it needs to count. That means spring and summer. Also, my tree guys were scheduled to be here in a few days to do another big job of sawing and chipping leaning dead trees and big cracked branches, so I wanted to clear as much as I could before their arrival. They chip and remove everything – or, at my request, dump the chips in a big pile at the edge of a hayfield.

Golden Arborvitae (of Some Sort)

Once I begin clearing around one tree, I seem to see underbrush and fallen or dangling dead branches everywhere.

After I cleared around the maple, I examined the nearby golden arborvitae. I don’t know the exact type, but it’s about twenty feet tall with an oval shape. It was a mess.

The poor thing was swamped with bittersweet on top and crowded by aging lilacs at the bottom. I hadn’t really noticed the tree until my neighbor pointed it – and its snapped branch – out to me.

I regret not removing the bittersweet vines when I bought the property; their heaviness likely contributed to the central leader succumbing to one of last year’s snowfalls.

Many lilacs were growing almost parallel to the ground. My neighbor identified them, but I’ve forgotten their name. She also told me that they had stopped blooming some time ago; she has the same ones growing on her property and they have also petered out. I cut the lilacs to two feet, in the hopes that they will generate new growth that I can keep at about six feet tall.

The Remains

As soon as my tree guys cut and hauled away the refuse, the shape of the remaining arborvitae was evident. Sadly, I could see that at least one-third of the central leader had been lost, bent beneath a blanket of bittersweet. A few branches had been badly damaged as well, leaving one side somewhat sheared. The photos below show the dead leader section (with berry-laden bittersweet) next to the surviving arborvitae; the lilacs, prior to cutting; the tree from different angles; and the awful jungle of thick bittersweet snaking out of the ground and onto the arborvitae. I hope this upland neighbor of the maple can recover over time and may consult with an arborist to improve its chances.

Bald Cypress

The golden arborvitae’s dramatic reveal led me to survey the surrounding area. What else could I cut while my tree guys were here to haul it away? I settled on one of the two biggest bald cypresses. Its splaying trunk was hidden by weeds, and a few bittersweet vines had climbed almost to the top of the tree. Just ten minutes of cutting resulted in another welcome sight:

Later this fall or winter I will cut the bittersweet from the other trees in this area. Once spring arrives, I’ll do a fresh cut and dab the bittersweet with herbicide. Then, monthly brush hogging and weeding will need to occur so that these lovely trees (and the foot bridge in the above photo on the right) are clearly visible.

I’m grateful that the maple tree and bald cypress are healthy and that the golden arborvitae still shows such promising signs of life. As with all of the trees here, I look forward to enjoying their beauty for many years to come.

Clearing Vines and Small Trees: A Classic Stone Wall Revealed

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If you’ve read my post (and updates!) concerning The Main Lawn, you know that one of my 2019 goals is to clear the brush that is hiding the stone wall that runs along its northern edge.

Stone walls are a magnificent symbol of New England and a testament to the great fortitude and ingenuity of our ancestors. I’ve seen massive stones in some of these walls and wondered how they were transported and positioned without machinery. I appreciate the Herculean efforts of these early inhabitants and the beautiful structures they left behind, most of which are amazingly intact centuries after they were built.

I can’t imagine my native landscape without them and am doing what I can to showcase them as I’m truly fortunate to have so many bordering various areas of my property.

Last weekend, my sister and I spent a few hours cutting down trees, bittersweet, and wild rose bushes using hand clippers and a chainsaw. I was so intent on starting Saturday morning before it became too hot that I didn’t take as many before photos as I should have. Here are a few:

Yes, there really is a stone wall behind all that vegetation. A large stand of milkweed is on the right, out of frame. We spotted several monarch butterflies around the milkweed, as I’d hoped when I opted to leave the area unmowed, as further detailed in The Main Lawn post.
Here is a slightly different angle, taken after we’d already removed and stacked some brush. The fire pond is to the left, out of frame. The grass growing into the trees and brush was more than two feet tall a month ago. I plan to keep cutting it until I resembles standard lawn grass, as further detailed in my post about The Main Lawn.

Here are a few photos as the work is in progress last Saturday morning:

Cutting is the easy part, whether with clippers or a chainsaw. Pulling 20-foot long vines from around tree branches without breaking any branches is a lot more challenging. They can get really heavy when they’re fully leafed out. These invasive plants twist around and carve themselves into tree trunks as they grow to the top of the canopy, killing the trees if left unchecked.
There were many more piles of brush than what is shown here by the time we stopped cutting. Luckily, we were working in the shade. The fire pond is in the background; its southern end is left of center. From this position, you can see it a bit better in person.

After several breaks, we were done by 2:30pm then headed to our parents’ house just up the road. Although it was over 90 degrees we fired up our favorite hardwood briquets and rewarded ourselves with grilled bacon cheeseburgers on brioche buns. Grilled onions were a great addition. (The next day we ate the same meal and added fresh thyme to the onions – delicious!) But, I digress.

On Sunday morning, it was hot and humid before 9:00am, but I had to finish the job before midday due to travel plans. I usually remove whatever I’ve cut the same day I cut it but was too tired to do so on Saturday; I like to return to a “clean” work site even if the job isn’t entirely done just for the psychological boost of starting fresh. Also, I never know if weather or a personal or work situation will keep me away for weeks, and the site just looks better without a bunch of grass-killing debris all over.

Sadly, I lost the pin that secures the cart to the riding mower and didn’t realize it until that morning. Truly awful!

Determined, I dragged three big stacks of brush several hundred yards across a sun-soaked lawn and hayfield to an existing brush pile. It was going to be a rough morning, but I kept going.

My sister arrived right after my fourth haul and quickly assessed the situation. Instead of dragging the brush all that long way in the increasing heat, she said we should drag it to the corner of the lawn behind the stand of milkweed. We could then move it in the fall when I have my tree guy return to chip a lot of other cut trees.

As usual, her idea was brilliant.

We finished in about an hour, mostly working in the shade, with monarch butterflies flitting around the nearby milkweed.

I discovered a few things while working on this project:

First, I need to have more trees limbed this fall, both the white kousa dogwoods and the large deciduous trees behind them. The four or five dogwoods (one is “blooming” white in the photos below) are bent over because they’re growing into the lowest branches of the trees behind them. The dogwoods’ lowest branches are too low to the ground so the area still doesn’t look as clean as it should. Also, several of the large trees have dead branches still attached to them so they need to be removed for safety (and secondarily, aesthetic) reasons.

Second, I need to determine how or if the dogwood trees can be re-trained to grow straight again. They must have looked spectacular before they began to grow into their neighbors.

Lastly, I need to remove several branches that have fallen over the years, many of which are lying on or around the stone wall. A major downside to clearing property is that you can then see how much more work needs to be done.

I have to stress that I’m not trying to achieve a five-star resort appearance here. Neat and natural is my goal.

All in all, I’m pleased with how the area looks after 4-5 hours of work, and I’m thrilled to see that wall!

I’ll post more in-progress photos and hope to complete this project before peak foliage this fall.

Healthy Lawn Report: Brush Hogging Tall Grass (Video)

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Here’s a very short video of me brush hogging tall grass, wild rose bushes, and other vegetation at the end of the main lawn on July 3, 2019. What I’m cutting is about two feet tall. I’ve cleared more challenging areas, but unfortunately, I didn’t record it. It took less than an hour to work this 120’ L x 30’ W area, and it wasn’t that physically taxing.

I didn’t grow up using power tools or heavy equipment, and I’m not particularly strong, but I wanted to be as self-sufficient as possible when maintaining my property so I knew I had to identify, and learn how to use, a few critical items.

It Paid for Itself

The brush hog (or bush hog/brush cutter) was the first big-ticket item that I bought. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to handle it, but I haven’t had any problems. I avoid rocky or boggy areas and growth that is bigger than what it’s manufactured to handle. It’s a critical piece of my property management arsenal, and I really enjoy using it.

By not having to pay landscapers, I figure that it paid for itself within a year or two, and I’m now in the black in terms of the money I’ve saved by continuing to clear my own property.

That’s the best part: every step I take is another dollar in my pocket!

A Brush Hog May Not Be Right for Everyone

Before deciding to buy my brush hog, I spoke with the prior owner of my property who told me that it was what they had long used to maintain several large areas. That pretty much settled the question of how I, in turn, would manage this land. Then I watched a lot of online videos of people brush hogging and read a lot of user reviews, always mindful of the reviewer’s apparent level of experience and what kind of plants they were cutting.

What to Consider Before Buying

Two major factors may make a brush hog an impractical choice for some:

First, brush hogs are expensive. I know “expensive” is a relative term, but the base price of entry level, name-brand models seems to be US$2,000 – $3,000, which is a substantial sum of money for the average person.

Second, depending on growth and terrain, using a brush hog can be arduous. If you want to clean up your severely overgrown property but don’t think you can handle hard physical labor, you may want to find someone trustworthy who can show you how to use a brush hog/bush hog/brush cutter, then rent one for a weekend and see how it goes. I opted to go straight to purchase. Note: Operating these machines can cause serious bodily injury, despite any built-in safety mechanisms. If you use one, you assume all risks.

An Ancient Agricultural Tool Could Be the Answer

If a brush hog isn’t a feasible option, an old-fashioned scythe could be a great alternative to cut tall grass. It’s much less expensive though it can be tiring to use as well – and dangerous. We had one of these very effective and beautiful hand tools when I was a kid (and I think it’s still in my parents’ garage so I will post a photo if I find it). When we were quite young, my siblings and I swung that thing on our back lawn after it had gone to pasture. I don’t remember any of us getting hurt using it, but I do not recommend that any minor use one. Plenty of adults probably shouldn’t use one either.

Let the Machine Do the Work

But, back to the brush hog, my tall grass conqueror of choice:

While standing in six-foot tall phragmites, an invasive perennial grass that I plan to eradicate, my brother gave me a 10-minute demonstration on how to operate my new brush hog. His key instruction was: “Let the machine do the work.”  It looked so easy!  But then again, he’s 6’3” and 250+ pounds and has worked with all kinds of machinery for decades. So, of course, I was a bit concerned that I’d be struggling every second that I used it.

At first, I found myself trying to push this several hundred pound beast through thick brush and uneven terrain, which was a huge mistake. Even now, I sometimes catch myself trying to muscle it but then I start repeating to myself, “Let the machine do the work.”

And that is precisely what I did in this video:

Healthy Lawn Report: How to Mow Two-Foot Tall Grass (Main Lawn)

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I’m now keeping track of the lawns in a series of posts that I’m calling my “Healthy Lawn Report.” The title may be more aspirational than accurate!

UPDATED with Week 4 Photos:

Between a lovely weekend trip to see old college friends and a vicious heatwave, I haven’t made much progress with my outdoor projects in July.

However, I was back at it this past weekend.

I mowed the area once at a height of 4 inches, with the deck lowered. I collected the clippings in the mower bags and had no issues with the hose getting clogged. Success! The grass is no longer hay so I won’t have to rake and dump piles of clippings by hand anymore. With weekly cuts that will eventually result in the grass being cut at a height of 2.75 inches, I hope the area matches the rest of the lawn by the end of this growing season.

There is still a lot of dead grass and patchy spots, as I expected, but the area looks greener than it did after the first three cuts. I’m not aiming for golf course perfection, just a neat, healthy lawn. Admittedly, the main lawn isn’t a deep, uniform green – yet.

I haven’t had time to continue my de-thatching but hope to resume this weekend then top dress and re-seed in late summer/early fall.

I’m playing the long game when it comes to reclaiming this property since I am doing so much of the work myself and usually only have limited time during the weekend in which to do it.

It may be crazy, but I’m actually envisioning how good the lawn will look next spring and summer!

For now, here are six more in-progress photos. I’m still pleased with how things are shaping up.

UPDATED with Week 2 Photos:

Two weeks after brush hogging, pockets of hay covered the still-tall grass, but the area looked pretty good considering how much I’d cut. I decided that I needed only to mow. Luckily, I had to remove just three or four small branches ahead of time. For the first cut, I set my riding mower’s cutting height at 4 inches and kept the deck in the raised position. Then I mowed with only half of the blades actually cutting the grass so I wouldn’t get bogged down. For the second, third and fourth cuts, I simply lowered the deck and mowed off-center once again. Then I raked all the clippings onto a tarp and removed them. The entire job took 30 minutes and was quite easy. I was very pleased with the results.

Here are three before photos:

This is what it looked like after the first cut:

This is what it looked like after the final cut, before the final clean up:

The final Week 2 results:

PREVIOUSLY:

Area:  Northern border of the main lawn which has been overtaken by wild rose bushes, assorted small trees, and grass that is more than two feet tall

Dimensions:  120′ L x 30′ W (3,600 square feet)

Goal(s): To restore the original dimensions of the main lawn

Challenge(s):  None, particularly. The area is overgrown, but it’s also flat. With the right tools and a day or two of good weather, cutting the overgrowth and clearing fallen branches is very manageable.

Effort Level:  1 2 3 4 5

Time Commitment:  1 2 3 4 5

Mower vs. Brush Hog

As I mentioned in my Maple Tree Row project post last week, this past weekend I spent about an hour brush hogging the northern end of the main lawn.  However, I was way off about the grass height: I thought it was maybe a foot high, but it was well over two feet! I’m not finished reclaiming the area but thought it would be useful to post before and after photos. I also shot video of me brush hogging and will upload it to this post once I learn how to do so.

Here is what I started with:

The grass reached just above the middle of my thigh and had gone to seed. It’s so long that it has flopped over; I kicked up a few clumps to show how overgrown it is.
This “before” photo provides additional perspective. The amount and type of growth is not at all challenging for a brush hog though just the long grass would likely bog down the average push or riding lawn mower as I learned the hard way last spring.
Here is a screen shot of me at work. It was very windy last Saturday hence the face mask.

My underlying goal with this project, as it is with all of my other green projects, is to move as quickly as possible from the “reclamation” stage to the hopefully easier “maintenance” stage.

That means using the right tool(s).

Operator or Equipment Failure?

This project actually began last spring when I attempted to use my riding mower to cut grass just in front of where I was working this past weekend. The grass was well over a foot long as I recall. Presumably due to time constraints, the previous owners had shrunk the lawn’s footprint and let the northern portion revert to meadow. They did so in a very artistic way, delineating the lawn and the meadow with an undulating demarcation line – something to remember should I find myself having to shrink the footprint for whatever reason. The dimensions of the meadow were (coming!).

Despite my sister’s and my gung ho attempts, the riding mower bogged down. My brother, however, had no such problems. Here is a photo of his handy work:

Mice and snakes bolted from the long grass as my brother mowed. The pond is on the top left, completely hidden.

After he mowed the area a few times that day, I’ve since been able to maintain it on my own just like any other section of lawn.  However, a lot of thatch had built up over the years due to the mulching of grass clippings. I am in the process of eliminating it this year and improving the lawn’s health. I’ll detail my efforts in a separate post.

If you’re wondering about the state of the mower blades after all that tough cutting – my brother is a total gearhead and he maintains all of our family’s tools and equipment (sharpening, oil changes, using stabilizers, etc.).  He repairs, checks and/or uses any piece of equipment before I do if either of us has any concerns about how it will function. I’ve never had a problem with anything working less than optimally.

Great Results

Back to the northern edge. Here’s a close up of the brush hogging in progress:

I doubt this area had been uncut more than a few years. Luckily, much of the old lawn grass hadn’t been choked out by the overgrowth.

Here is a medium shot, before I’d attacked the wild rose bushes and other non-grass vegetation:

Here is what it looked like after an hour of brush hogging:

This is the same corner featured in the previous photo, shown from a slightly different angle. Deep thatch had smothered the lawn. I’ve actually removed a lot of it in the past year. The lawn no longer has a spongy feel.
A long shot. The area looks pretty clean. I didn’t cut the upper right corner due to a good-sized stand of perennial milkweed growing there; it’s the host plant of monarch caterpillars/butterflies. I’ll figure out one day how to keep the long grass out of there.
It’s so lovely to see the white kousa dogwood featured more prominently, even at this interim stage. I was never tempted to cut down what at first were mystery trees. They “bloomed” the first spring after I’d bought the house. It pays to be patient when cleaning up overgrown property.

I think the results are fairly dramatic.

Lawncare experts warn against stressing grass by cutting more than one-third of its height at any one time. I don’t know if that applies to what is essentially field grass. The area is shaded for several hours each day at this time of year so it shouldn’t “burn.” Also, it’s supposed to rain a few days this week, and I won’t cut the grass again until it has rested for at least seven days.

Next Steps

To finish this project so that I can maintain this section of lawn with my riding mower, I’ll need to do the following:

Remove old fallen branches, some of which are quite large and heavy

Cut down the remaining small trees and remove them

Brush hog at least one more time

Mow a few times to reduce the size of the grass clippings then bag and remove them

That may sound like a lot of work, but I removed a lot of branches a few weeks earlier when my tree guy was on site with his commercial-grade chipper. It’ll probably take one afternoon of work to reach the mowing stage.

I’ll continue to post progress photos.

Thanks for reading!

Maple Tree Row: Clearing Brush and Re-Establishing Field Grass

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UPDATED with Week 2 Photos:

I’d mentioned in the original story below that I would post weekly photos, but unfortunately, I was sick all last week and didn’t take any Week 1 photos. I’m now defaulting to bi-weekly updates which will show more obvious progress (or lack thereof).

As seen in the below photos, the grass and mini clover are growing the most in the areas where my sister and I spread topsoil to smooth out the deepest depressions. It’s been raining every few days, and the highs have been in the upper 70s so I can’t blame the weather for the rather sad gallery of “green saucers.”

It’s only been two weeks, and I’m patient. The remainder of the surface area just isn’t an ideal growing medium, whatever it is. If it isn’t too hot and humid this weekend, I’ll fill and haul big sacks of horse manure compost from my neighbor and top dress the area. That should spark new and thicker grass growth.

In any event, I’ll be re-seeding in late September. I’m hoping for complete grass coverage by Halloween.

PREVIOUSLY:

Area: A row of mature trees, predominately maple, that runs north-south along a stone wall, and the area underneath their canopy
Dimensions:  300’ L x 33’ W (9,900 square feet, a bit shy of a quarter acre [one acre = 43,560 square feet])
Goal(s): To reveal the trees’ full grandeur once again (after having a tree expert limb low-hanging branches very subtly, under my supervision last year), re-grow grass beneath their canopy, and re-establish a site line of open, “rolling green” space from various vantage points on the property
Challenge(s): Removing by hand extensive plant debris and live growth left behind by a landscaper hired to clear this area; the sheer size of the area; somewhat uneven terrain; selecting the right grass/groundcover for the mostly shady location
Effort Level: 1 2 3 4 5
Time Commitment:  1 2 3 4 5

Buried in Debris: Using Big Machines Isn’t Always the Best Landscaping Choice

Below is a photo of a small portion of the area, taken in April 2018, after a landscaper had cleared it and before we began to finish the job by hand. Dormant burning bush and other unwanted growth still obscure the stone wall and the bases of the trees. I don’t know if a photo can represent accurately how much debris the landscaper’s machinery created and how it acted as unwanted mulch.

Imagine seeing about 300 feet of this when you’d intended the area to be clear for seeding.

I’d wanted to restore Maple Tree Row for well over five years, but other things somehow always took precedence. Quite frankly, I also didn’t want to clear 9,900 square feet by hand. So I hired a landscaper whose big machinery left behind inches of debris: broken branches (a few inches to a few feet long), smaller tree trunks not entirely detached from the ground, etc. He claimed that it would decompose so that I could then plant grass, which I’d stated was a time-sensitive priority.

In fact, two years later, nothing much was growing except for the brush that his machine missed and nothing much appeared to be decomposing. It didn’t look good, and I wasn’t happy. The photo below was taken in early May 2018. You can see where the “leaf litter” hasn’t stopped the hayfield from growing, whereas a wide swath from the stone wall is almost barren. This is where so many cut branches blanketed the ground.

In hindsight, I could (and should) have cleared this area myself – no big machines would have been used and no mess would have been left behind.

A Handmade Solution

Last May, my sister and I began cutting down the remaining brush and stumps with clippers (we kept forgetting to bring the chainsaw). The photos below show the same area before and after our couple of hours of work.

I assume some of this debris resulted naturally from bad weather and the age of the trees. I debated whether to rent a heavy-duty, tow-behind landscape rake but decided to clean this massive area by hand. That was probably a mistake.
I’m standing farther back here. I think the site looks better already; the sunlight helps to show the difference.

Progress, but No Quick Fix

I continued on my own later, walking back and forth, searching for stumps. I cut them flush to the ground with my chainsaw or clippers. One day, I walked back and forth for almost six hours. It was painstaking, but I had no interest in paying anyone else to finish the job.

Last fall, I removed years of fallen leaves then raked the remaining debris into piles, revealing the fattest, most energetic earthworms I’ve ever seen. Some of them shot up like geysers when their leaf cover was removed. Very odd, but at least the soil was probably well-aerated.

Sometimes I dumped the debris into a cart hitched to the back of my mower and rode it to a hidden brush pile at the bottom of a hill several hundred feet away. Sometimes it was actually easier to just rake it onto a big tarp and haul it on foot, which is how we removed all the leaves.

It wasn’t the most physically demanding labor, but it was beyond tedious.

As I got closer to the actual ground, I was raking what looked like a crumble topping for a dessert – indeterminate organic matter that became really heavy in small amounts. Maybe it was the precursor to actual soil? In any event, I ended up leaving at least a dozen piles of compacted material because I’d just become sick of dealing with it.

A Glimmer of Hope

By this time it was early-mid October, a bit past the ideal time to seed in the fall. I re-seeded a small portion of Maple Tree Row anyway, using Kentucky 31 (or KY 31) tall fescue and top dressing it with a sprinkling of organic horse manure compost from a neighbor. The sprayer that I’d hitched to my mower wasn’t maintaining pressure for some reason so I couldn’t water the seeds as recommended. My brother fixed it in the late afternoon, but by that time I’d had it and left it to Mother Nature to do the rest. Within a week, green fuzz appeared so I knew I was on my way to victory!

I discovered last fall that Kentucky 31 is a bright green grass, which I don’t favor. I hadn’t even considered that the color of various lawn grasses could differ so much; the KY 31 was on sale, and all I knew was that a tall fescue should work pretty well.  Now I’ll use it only on the less-manicured areas such as Maple Tree Row combined with other, darker grasses for a more desirable appearance.  I’ve also since learned that the type of KY 31 that I bought is not labeled endophyte-free so it could pose some threat to certain grazing animals. I am not at all well-versed on this issue and I don’t have grazing animals (yet), but I’ll do additional research as warranted.

Spring 2019: Completing a Major Green Phase

Fast forward to this past weekend. Here is what the site looked like before we began our final push:

The Kentucky 31 that we sowed last year came in pretty well though there are bare spots (heavy rains washed away some of the seeds). A big circle of it is in front of the logs; its brightness is a bit tempered by the other young grass. I mowed here the same day this photo was taken. The logs came from a big branch that fell in late winter/early spring.
Freshly mowed (and logs moved), but I had to leave before I could trim around the base of the trees. The KY 31 brightness is more apparent. The bush in the middle of the trees on the left is a forsythia which I’m keeping. The mound in the center-right rear is a pile of wood chips that I asked my tree guy to leave last year after he’d pruned and chipped branches on the property all day.
This photo hints at how uneven the ground is and how effective all that debris has been in suppressing vegetation. If weeds can’t grow here, I don’t see how grass can either.
A closer view. In the foreground is one of the many piles I created, flattening into a depression. One saving grace is that super-fragrant lilies of the valley (not visible here) grow along the stone wall though not in the sizeable drifts that are elsewhere on the property. I don’t dislike all invasive plants!

After mowing the lawns for hours then working all Saturday afternoon under the canopy with little wind and too many bugs, I was dejected that there was still so much debris. Around 7:00pm that evening, I decided that I would finish clearing/seeding just the front portion of Maple Tree Row and complete the job in the fall.

I emptied a 40-pound bag of organic topsoil into six of the deepest impressions to try to even out the surface. I don’t want it to be ice rink-smooth, but you shouldn’t end up biting your tongue while you’re on your riding mower because the ground is so uneven! The surface wasn’t really that bad, but several spots looked as though a large animal had been bedding down there.

Once again, as sunlight was rapidly fading, my sister and I hand spread grass seed. This time it was a mix of the Kentucky 31, a custom blend of shade grasses from a local garden center ($3.49 per pound), and a dash of organic mini clover. We had no energy or time to water, but it did shower on Monday evening as forecast and it’s supposed to shower two more days this week as well.

The next morning, we measured the area that we’d seeded (and re-seeded): 160’ L x 33’ W, just over half the length of Maple Tree Row. Some of the seed that we’d spread on the new top soil had been scratched, probably thanks to the wild turkeys that roam around. That’s all the better for me, as that improved the seed contact with the soil.

I’m so happy to be done with this project until the fall!  I’ll post weekly progress photos (for better or worse).

As with all things in life, you have to know when to quit and know that quitting isn’t always defeat: clearing the remainder of Maple Tree Row is too monotonous and dispiriting at this point, and it’s getting too late to do effective spring seeding. Also, my time in June/July will be better spent reclaiming the sunny areas of the property before it gets too hot and where I can achieve much faster, meaningful results.

My next project is for this coming weekend and it’s a “quick hit”: mowing the foot+ long grass bordering the northern edge of the main lawn near the pond. That means that I’ll be firing up the brush hog for the first time this spring, and I may post a video of myself in action. Stay tuned!

Natural Landscaping: The Fire Pond

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What Is Natural Landscaping?

It’s the use of mainly native plants in a landscape design that either leaves the original topography unchanged or alters the environment such that it imitates local surroundings that have been changed only by nature (not humans).

One of the benefits of natural landscaping is that diverse native flora (and fauna) will succeed with little to no human effort. I don’t have any more time to devote to property maintenance so I’ll gladly accept nature’s assistance in creating a thriving, lush environment!

My property was once part of a 600-acre farm so the human touch is evident in the buildings, the hayfields, and the gardens, along with the stone walls that delineate key areas. However, I’m a native New Englander so not seeing all those stone walls here would look unnatural!

I’m very lucky in that the prior owners of the main house (there have been only five before me since the 1700s) favored this natural aesthetic. One of the wisest decisions they made was to select then clear around several maple trees that border many of those stone walls.  A century (or more) later, they’re magnificent and give the old homestead a stately ambience.

I’m not going to alter that natural landscaping as I reclaim the overgrown areas.  However, some non-native plants that were introduced in the last few decades, such as bamboo, will be removed.

Reclaiming Natural Landscaping

One of my primary missions for spring 2019 is to clear the trees and brush that obscure the “fire pond” for most of the year. During the summer, its beautiful water lilies are hard to see. Even after the foliage drops in autumn, a thick web of branches and vines still makes it difficult to see the little gem.

By July, the water lilies have bloomed into lily pads. The stream that feeds this pond is at the top of the photo, completely hidden by vegetation.

To complicate matters, several 15-20 foot trees rooted at the pond’s edge and have grown horizontally so that they skim the water’s surface.  Cutting and removing them will definitely be a two-person job.

The featured image for this post shows how the pond appeared several weeks ago, after I’d done some clearing using just hand clippers. It looks quite ragged with all the grasses and floating “litter,” but I don’t have an easy answer for how to manage this – yet.

I still feel really lucky to own this body of water, and I’m still surprised that it’s actually manmade.

The Fire Pond’s Origins

A vernal (seasonal) stream runs from the top of a wooded hill behind the main house. It passes through the westerly edge of my property and ends in a vernal pool in the woods of my neighbor’s property to the south. Depending on the amount of rain and snowfall in any given year the stream can gush for weeks at a time beginning in the spring, creating several mini waterfalls as it travels between my two hayfields. It can also decrease to a trickle or even run dry for long stretches.

Prior owners of the main house altered the landscape to create this “fire pond,” likely in the 1930s or 1940s. There was no fire department in town then so they probably reasoned that they should at least have a nearby source of water for much of the year (again, depending on rain and snowfall amounts) and be able to assemble a “bucket brigade” of volunteers to douse a house fire.

I don’t know how they slowed the current to create a sizeable pond or if they had to re-grade the property, but the plan was so well executed that I found out only after I bought the main house that the pond was manmade – when the seller informed me.  I grew up about a quarter mile away on the same road so I passed by there often over the years and used to play there with the seller’s daughter; it never occurred to me that the pond wasn’t natural.

As I’ve started cutting the thick vegetation surrounding it, I’ve learned a few things.

This photo doesn’t even begin to reveal the density of the brush and weeds surrounding the pond, but the remnants of last year’s grass are still visible.

Vernal Ponds Are Unique Habitats

Manmade or not, they’re sometimes the exclusive home to various animals such as wood frogs, peepers, and spotted salamanders. Consequently, it’s critical to maintain water quality and to not disturb them. I’ve seen and heard dozens and dozens of chatty wood frogs and peepers, such wonderful harbingers of spring. I’ve also seen caddisflies with their ingenious little casings made of organic matter.

Some might think the grasses, twigs, and rotting leaves blanketing the pond bottom are unsightly (and I don’t disagree), but I’m worried that removing them could disturb amphibian eggs or their young.  The tall grasses that grow each year in a corner of the pond can be killed with an herbicide, but I’m also concerned that it could harm the animals or other plants that I’d like to keep.

I wonder how other people who own bodies of water keep the edges so enviably clean – is there a way to achieve this other than using chemicals? I have to research this.

A red army of pricker bushes has invaded the pond area, visible on the right.
A close up of the red army; some stand about six feet tall. The pond is on the left, out of screen shot.

The Ducks

Although recent rains have slowed my progress, I was on track to clear the entire perimeter by mid-May so that it resembled its original appearance – until my sister spotted a pair of mallard ducks in the pond on Easter Sunday. Both were dabbling (bottoms up!), and the male (the drake) had that stunning iridescent-green head.

After researching mallards a bit, I deduced that this was a mating couple and that the female (the hen) was close to laying a clutch of approximately a dozen eggs since the male was still with her. The incubation period is about a month.

I could soon have a dozen ducklings in my pond! 

Mallards are abundant, and I’ve seen many different kinds of ducks in my travels but never on my own property. My sister has since seen the duo several times, dabbling for food, landing on water, and hiding on the northern end of the pond where the brush is the thickest and borders the woods behind the stone wall. I still haven’t been lucky enough to get even a glimpse of them, but I don’t want to remove the sheltering vegetation.

American Goldfinch Hang Out There Too

No disrespect to blue jays, scarlet tanagers, chickadees, etc., but these bright yellow dynamos are acrobatic flyers and awesome to watch. Cutting down all the trees and weeds may make this a less desirable habitat for them and other birds. I don’t want to do anything that encourages any birds to leave or possibly poisons some of the seeds or insects that they eat.

New Plan Meets Old Thinking

My sister’s duck sighting made me take a more restrained approach around the fire pond, which coincidentally aligns with my philosophy of using the least invasive and toxic landscaping methods. Hand clippers, a chainsaw, a brush hog, and a rake should be all the tools that I need for the initial clean up, followed by a push mower for maintenance. Fingers crossed that I’m right about this.

We don’t know if mallards or other water fowl have always visited the fire pond, hidden behind the dense greenery, but we’re seeing water landings and takeoffs by various birds that we never noticed before. I’ve also spotted deer prints at the water’s edge so I’d like to think that the clearing thus far has actually been beneficial to wildlife.

The northern edge of the pond where the stream empties into it from the woods will now remain untouched.  The brush and trees growing there will continue to provide shelter for the ducks and their offspring (if the hen chooses to lead the ducklings there).  I’ll remove dead and fallen branches and the smaller trees that, if left unchecked, will impede the growth of the larger specimens.

It’ll still look like a natural pond, with a mostly manicured border that makes it easily accessible by various animals. And it’ll be clearly visible to me from several vantage points which makes me happy too.

Conclusion

So, what’s the downside to this approach?

Leaving the grasses and some of the protective growth is not the most aesthetically pleasing option.

Since the pond will be left a bit wild near where I’d intended to set up my outdoor dining table, I’ll likely need a new location for it.

I won’t see a 15-20 foot stretch of stone wall at the base of which the stream runs and feeds the pond.

All pretty insignificant.

As for the ducks, one other interesting tidbit that I learned: the female mallard often lays her eggs near where she herself was hatched.

It seems only appropriate that one local girl look out for another.