| Author | Message | ||
     Robert Noel Reddington Grand Master Username: bob_uk Post Number: 311 Registered: 5-2015 |
Brambles. My garden has brambles. These are nasty plants they grow fast and tip root. They grow in big arches touch down and start another root system. So wearing full body armour I attacked with the small sharp cutters until I found the thick bits and brought in the big tree loppers. Then a pickaxe to get below the root bulb and the final coup de grace chop the root bulb off. I won. The next stage is to leave for a week then burn the dead bodies. This area I live in is well known for Brambles and I get free blackberries. But if not kept in check the brambles will take over. For very large areas the farmers use pigs. Pigs will even dig out the roots. | ||
| Jan Forrest Grand Master Username: got_one Post Number: 848 Registered: 1-2008 |
Brambles? I kill them at the first hint. Chickweed is my mortal enemy in my garden! Any tiny bit hitting the ground will put down roots and start a new plant and the seeds stick to everything worse than velcro! | ||
| Robert Noel Reddington Grand Master Username: bob_uk Post Number: 314 Registered: 5-2015 |
Velcro is a rip off. I have been attacking the brambles for years. Each year they get less. Round up is Gypostat or something like that. It gets sucked in by leaves and kills the roots. Soil neutralises it. Round up has just lapsed patent wise. So others will make it cheaper. A few years back I helped out clearing a 5 acre field of brambles using a tractor and drag spikes. We ripped the brambles to pieces and then burnt them. I like working the land. Tractors and the accessories are great fun. But also dangerous so take care. My favorite is a combe type brush cutter with a 5hp engine. Also chain flails. | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 1692 Registered: 4-2003 |
Bob, The best weed control device known to man is the humble goat and they go nuts over blackberries [brambles], lantana and other hard-to-remove weeds/plants which are delicacies to them. Many goat owners rent out their goat herd to landowners wanting to clear their land quickly and not having to worry about weedkiller residual contamination of the soil. http://herdsforhire.com.au/what-goats-eat/ http://www.acga.org.au/goatnotes/J001.php | ||
| Robert Noel Reddington Grand Master Username: bob_uk Post Number: 321 Registered: 5-2015 |
We use pigs. Pigs also clear the acorns which horses mustn't eat. Pigs go nuts for acorns. Goats are probably easier pigs can be dangerous. No such thing as a tame pig. Pigs will revert back to wild boar in weeks. The brambles in my garden are well under control now. I dislike chemicals because of contamination and the cost in money. Me digging them up is the cheapest way. Plus I like doing it. | ||
| Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 1539 Registered: 6-2009 |
I only wish I could employ goats and/or pigs to get rid of the endless weeds of all sorts that appear in the gardens surrounding my house (which are mostly the doing of my partner, but which I still have to help to maintain). Here it is during this year's early spring iris season and later during lily season, which is just now coming to its end. Brian | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 1696 Registered: 4-2003 |
Brian, Your links are not working for some reason - I just get my Google Account log-in page and not your Google folder. | ||
| Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 1541 Registered: 6-2009 |
David, All I can say is try again later. I've had this error occur before. Both are in Picasa web albums that are supposed to be accessible to anyone who has the links. This behavior seems to come and go for reasons I'll never be able to explain. Brian | ||
| Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 1542 Registered: 6-2009 |
OK, lets try this: Iris Season at 105 Hook Ln Lily Season at 105 Hook Ln I only wish I knew why Picasa hands me two different URLs for sharing web albums and always seems to give me "the wrong one" the first time. Brian | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 1697 Registered: 4-2003 |
Brian, Thank you - the links are working. Lucky you to live in a suitable climate to have a lush garden without having to worry about excess water charges from having to water it every second day. Beautiful garden to be proud of..... | ||
| Christian S. Hansen Experienced User Username: enquiring_mind Post Number: 36 Registered: 4-2015 |
Brian... Stunning variety! A veritable floral wonderland. Christian | ||
| Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 1545 Registered: 6-2009 |
David & Christian, It is indeed lovely, but way more than a handful to maintain!! With regard to water, we have been very lucky so far this year. The Shenandoah Valley is actually classed as a semi-arid climate. In every season but mid-summer we have rain in sufficient quantity to make virtually anything grow (except things that like it dry). Then, most years, by the time July hits and the heat with it it's like someone just turns off the rain machine. We'll often have nothing for several months at which point the watering regimen begins and becomes quite expensive. I am very grateful that we've been receiving rain in both greater than normal amounts and with functionally useful spacing between days so far this year. The fact that this has happened through this late date in July is almost a small miracle. I haven't even been watering the orchid collection and houseplants that get schlepped outside for the summer all that much. Brian | ||
| Geoff Wootton Grand Master Username: dounraey Post Number: 866 Registered: 5-2012 |
Hi Brian NPR (National Public Radio) said to expect a much wetter summer this year in Florida as 2015 is an El Nino year. Maybe this is why you are getting a welcome increase in rain this summer. I thought the effect of El Nino was felt in the fall and winter, not summer. Anyway, whatever the reason, it has been really wet here also, raining most days for the past two weeks, often at tropical storm strength. Geoff | ||
| Randy Roberson Grand Master Username: wascator Post Number: 496 Registered: 5-2009 |
Brian the garden is beautiful; thanks for sharing! "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, yet Solomon in all his finery was not arrayed as one of these" | ||
| Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 1552 Registered: 6-2009 |
Randy, Thanks. These lilies, though not of the field, neither toil nor spin. Their caretakers, well . . . Brian |
