the war on invasive plants
namely blackberries, continues. the weather is cooperating with my continued labour in the backyard -- it rains often enough to keep that bad, compacted soil reasonably easy to dig up, and it's been staying cool enough for me to not get a heat stroke while doing so. i've now cleared both sides of the righthand fence of root systems for a width of about 3 feet. today i've removed 9 root systems. this is what the average root nexus looks like:
that little root demon is foaming at the mouth!
every major stub had 3-5 feet of root. it really is hard labour to dig those systems up, because they are tough, and the soil is full of stones which makes it a royal pain. i've worked out a reasonable system; i start by clearing the soil from the sides of the central blob with my trusty hand hoe-cultivator (which also allows me to get most large stones out), then i use a pruner to cut through all the roots i can reach, shove the spade fork underneath the blob and leverage it over enough so i can cut the bottom roots. after all the blobs are out in an area, i dig that space up with the spade fork, which brings up most of the roots except for the ones that go really deep down (i shall forget about those for now, and see whether they're enough to bring the blackberry back). then i sift the soil to get rid of all but small stones, and after that i mix in compost and peat moss. the soil tested ph neutral, and without noticeable nutrients, *sigh*. i'm gonna have nitrogen fixers in there this year; we'll see how much this all improves the soil. we'll probably move out by the time it's actually decent, *snrk*.
i've planted my tomatoes -- sweet 100, lemon boy, a grape tomato without cultivar name, and juliet. went looking for romeo, but alas, no joy there. :) their ideal place would be in front of the house, since that side faces south, but there's no room; i no longer want them in the middle of my raised flower bed. so they're sitting on the left side of the backyard, where there's no longer much shade from the apple tree since that leaned over. that plot gets sun from mid morning on until evening.
and i found a lovely herb farm just one valley over. ghod. and i was so good this far about not buying a lot of plants. i'll make a separate entry about that cause there are many pictures.
that little root demon is foaming at the mouth!
every major stub had 3-5 feet of root. it really is hard labour to dig those systems up, because they are tough, and the soil is full of stones which makes it a royal pain. i've worked out a reasonable system; i start by clearing the soil from the sides of the central blob with my trusty hand hoe-cultivator (which also allows me to get most large stones out), then i use a pruner to cut through all the roots i can reach, shove the spade fork underneath the blob and leverage it over enough so i can cut the bottom roots. after all the blobs are out in an area, i dig that space up with the spade fork, which brings up most of the roots except for the ones that go really deep down (i shall forget about those for now, and see whether they're enough to bring the blackberry back). then i sift the soil to get rid of all but small stones, and after that i mix in compost and peat moss. the soil tested ph neutral, and without noticeable nutrients, *sigh*. i'm gonna have nitrogen fixers in there this year; we'll see how much this all improves the soil. we'll probably move out by the time it's actually decent, *snrk*.
i've planted my tomatoes -- sweet 100, lemon boy, a grape tomato without cultivar name, and juliet. went looking for romeo, but alas, no joy there. :) their ideal place would be in front of the house, since that side faces south, but there's no room; i no longer want them in the middle of my raised flower bed. so they're sitting on the left side of the backyard, where there's no longer much shade from the apple tree since that leaned over. that plot gets sun from mid morning on until evening.
and i found a lovely herb farm just one valley over. ghod. and i was so good this far about not buying a lot of plants. i'll make a separate entry about that cause there are many pictures.