revenge of the weeds

This is the year we almost quit. A combination of factors contributed: We ran out of money, in part because we were unable to sell the John Deere 2955The Canadian dollar being at par (or close to it) with the US dollar caused the prices of used vehicles to drop. We held out as long as we could to get what we considered a fair price. In the end we lost close to $5,000 on it. which we bought in 2006. Most people who enquired about the tractor wanted one with a cab. It finally sold in early September which allowed us to retire some of our debt. More importantly, though, it was the weeds that caused us to reconsider whether we had the resolve to see this project through. The introduced species are both plentiful and persistent. It’s one thing to weed an area once or even twice, but — especially because of the scale of this project — when it’s being done for the third or fourth time, one’s motivation is seriously challenged. Frequent rains in late August and throughout September didn’t help; many days the soil was too wet to be walking on it. The weeds, of course, were thriving because of all the moisture, which makes them that much more difficult to remove. The wind, combined with the rain, prevented a lot of other yard work from being done as well.

2008 ~ still more site preparation and a bit of planting

weeding

Many of the introduced plants simply pull out of the ground, especially when they are small. However, quackgrass, smooth brome, docks, dandelions, clover, and Canada thistle seedlings all have to be dug out. The forbs are not so bad; just push a hand *fork* under them, lift the soil a bit and pull them out. But both grasses have rhizomes that spread horizontally and any little bit of these roots that remain in the ground will produce another plant.

dragging hose ~ 08AU06-03

One of the most disheartening things was, after cultivating and smoothing the top of the dike and the recreation area beside the southwest corner of the pond for the third time, then seeding the areas with blue grama grass, then dragging 100 m hoses around and watering it all for a month, we first got a crop of wild mustard. In mid-May, there had been a dust storm that lasted a week and a half. A lot of seed must have been deposited on the top and sides of the dike. We first cut the wild mustard by hand only to see it return. We then mowed it but, while the mustard didn’t return many other weeds took over. We also hand cut some of the introduced forbs, most of which are annuals, but they too grew back.

dike ~ 08JL19-01 | watering grass seed

dike ~ 08AU16 | crop of wild mustard

Annuals are supposedly easy to eliminate in a native planting. “Mow high to prevent them from seeding,” all of the experienced people say. That directive infers that the annuals are growing upright. But, except for the wild mustard, almost all of the introduced forbs were growing in a decumbent fashion, close to the ground. Even barnyard grass was splayed horizontally making it impossible to mow. We tried mowing a couple of areas, which had not been seeded, with the mowing deck set to its lowest level. This almost worked but it also plugged up the inside of the deck which had to be pried clear of great chunks of soil and vegetative material, each time, after a couple of hours of use.

Canada thistle ~ 08OC01-05

round leaved mallow, dock ~ 08SE11

To add salt to our wounded motivation, Canada thistle infested several areas. The dike, both inside and outside, was cultivated; this particular invader thrives on cultivation.

herbicides

We are not proponents of chemical herbicide use. Further research and suggestions from Sarah Coulber at Canadian Wildlife Federation have us reconsidering how to eliminate undesirable vegetation. Primarily the use of corn gluten meal and vinegar (or acetic acid), which we will explore in 2009.

Canada thistle eradication

We have received a variety of instructions on how to remove Canada thistle. “Cut it short in early summer, then hit it with Banvel or Dyvel in the fall,” one native restoration expert said. “Don’t mow it; let it grow to its full height and spray it with Roundup after August 15,” most of the farmers and local *agro* people say. Both the *don’t mow* and late in the season directives are always emphasized. We cannot, however, allow this plant to mature and set seed before spraying it with whichever herbicide. There is so much exposed soil on this site that it is an invitation to all wind born seeds. One other suggestion was to spray the thistles with Dyvel in the spring to curtail them, then Roundup in the fall to kill them. We have not yet tried this approach.

Another alternative is to dig the weed out, but its roots go down almost a meter. Areas could also be kept covered with landscape fabric (but, with the expanses here and the wind, both the cost and the challenge of keeping such material on the ground are prohibitive).

On the south face of the north dike (inside) the Canada thistle was cut short in early July then sprayed in late August with Dyvel. Some of it was also cut in mid-August when the wild mustard growing on the west face of the east dike was mowed. Because there are also large patches of quackgrass all of the inside of the dike was also sprayed with Roundup in early September.

Canada thistle, already present on the outside of the dike increased significantly. As it is mixed in with a variety of other species, mostly quackgrass, the region is mowed regularly to prevent everything growing there from seeding. The outside of the dike will be burned mid-June each year until we are able to start planting it. Research indicates that regular burning reduces the numbers of Canada thistle (however infrequent burning apparently has the opposite effect).

In 2007, on areas being kept black, the dominant invader was stinkweed. It grows upright and was eliminated mostly by mowing, but also by recultivation of a couple of areas. In 2008 we saw dandelions, docks, buckwheat, purslane Purslane is a native forb. However, a local farmer cringed when he saw it on our yard. “We were instructed as children to pull that stuff out and burn it,” he said. “A single leaf or even a tiny piece of stem will sprout a new plant.” We haven’t, though, had much trouble with it., and round-leaved mallow happily spreading along with a couple of weeds for which we do not have names. Most of these, except for the dandelions and docks, are relatively easy to remove by hand when they are small. They present a bit of a challenge when they mature. They still pull up but they take considerably more soil with them. This is not a concern in areas which have not been seeded but means one has to be careful in areas that have been seeded — like the top of the dike.

This last item — the top of the dike — made us especially disconsolate. Not only did we have all of the weeds to contend with, we did not sow anywhere near enough seed. That combined with the fact that blue grama grass wants a lot of water to get started (and once every two and a half days was insufficient) means we will likely have to do it all over again. Lucky us. As an experiment, we sprayed the recreation area beside the southwest corner of the pond with Dyvel to get rid of the broadleaf plants as it seems the herbicide does not affect the blue grama grass. However, this area, too, does not have much in the way of desirable seedlings coming up. It will probably have to be re-seeded too in 2009.

it wasn’t all bad

sedge meadow ~ 08JL06-12

cutting nutall’s alkali grass ~ 08JL19-01

A couple of areas started showing some promise. The sedge meadow in particular is doing fairly well. However, there was an opposite problem here. Nuttall’s alkali grass, which is native, spread so rapidly that most of it had to be cut down to prevent it from spreading more. In June 2007, four bunches, dug up from beside the train tracks, were planted in the sedge meadow. In September 2007 these few plants dropped seed which started germinating immediately. In spring 2008 there were several hundred bunches coming up, all producing more seed. And one sloughgrass, that was transplanted to the other side of the sedge meadow, also produced more than fifty plants elsewhere in the sub-region which is supposed to be an area filled with rushes and sedges, not grass. Fortunately, most of the rushes and sedges are multiplying and several moisture-loving wildflowers, from the year before, returned and increased in number. A couple of new species were added as well.

babbling brook ~ 08SE11-01

front yard ~ 08SE11-03

front yard ~ 08AU05-01

The sides of the babbling brook were partially planted with a couple of wildflowers and seeded with grass only some of which — the blue grama grass — germinated.

The front yard began to fill in with some desirable material. A big handful of mostly big bluestem, returned from the year before in the thumb. Narrowleaf sunflower echoed the Nuttall’s alkakali grass from the sedge meadow and later had to be cut before it set seed. In the first week of July additional grass seed was added to the thumb along with digging in a variety of wildflower seedlings started earlier in 5 cm pots. The seed in the thumb was hand broadcast, then raked, and then the Silver Plains two step was done to pack the soil; it was not possible to drive the garden tractor over the area as there were grasses and forbs coming up in it from the year before. The slope was seeded with mostly blue gama grass when the top of the dike was sown with seed. Witchgrass appeared to take over much of the front yard, however, it is a native annual which virutally disappears in the fall. We were pleasantly surprised when helenium appeared in front of the dwelling unit from seed sown but which didn’t germinate the year before.

Both the sides of the brook and the front yard required hand weeding a couple of times.

front yard ~ 08SE14

At the beginning of August we started getting a portion of the east yard ready for planting. The eastern half of the region was cultivated for about the fourth time, then smoothed. Given our lack of success with the top of the dike we decided to only sow the seed that we had on just under half of the area that was ready. This *quarter* of the east yard was then watered regularly; August was fairly dry. There were a few patches of green *peach fuzz* showing up but they all seemed to have been drowned by water from a couple of heavy rains near the end of September. European alkali grass, however, is also sprouting in abundance in this area. In fact, the other half of the east yard is dense with European alkali grass which will have to be removed.

covering seed ~ 08AU08-01

packing seed ~ 08AU08-01

east ditch ~ 08AU26

The east ditch filled in with foxtail barley and a trace or two of Nuttall’s alkali grass, along with some of the many weeds. The sides of the ditch were cultivated. But when they were later smoothed, the trench in the middle filled in. After spraying everything remaining in the middle of the ditch with Roundup, the whole ditch was cultivated once again. The entire length of the ditch was watered to see how well it was draining; it’s a good thing we checked beacasue the ditch was not draining properly. A trench was dug by hand along the middle to get water flowing again, then the slopes were scraped outward with the rear blade on the tractor. It was all smoothed again and the Nuttall’s alkali grass (complete with ripe seed), cut from the sedge meadow, was strewn along the length of the ditch and dragged into the soil with a chain behind the garden tractor. Some red samphire was discovered in a nearby ditch and a couple of transplants were added to the east ditch. A few other seeds and seedlings were added; patches of green started showing up by the end of September; the alkali grass seed was germinating; a very cheering sight.

east ditch ~ 08SE23

pond; east side ~ 08SE19-07

HERBICIDE

As mentioned above, we have since decided to not use chemical herbicides.
And round-leaved mallow is a biennial. Preventing the plant from setting seed and removal of most of the first year plants with the blade on the tractor more or less did the trick. Some returned the following year; a combination of harrowing and hand weeding almost completely eliminated them.

In part out of frustration, the east side of the pond was scraped clean with the blade on the tractor. The plan was to spray an infestation of round-leaved mallow (which had not been present on the site in previous years) first with Dyvel, then with Roundup. Apparently neither herbicide alone will eliminate this weed which was filling in the large area. But because of the wind it was not possible to apply the herbicide. The drift from Dyvel would likely have done damage to the alfalfa growing on the neighbouring field. We will find out if this experiment worked in the spring of 2009. Fortunately there was almost no grass growing there; except for foxtail barley along the edge of the pond.

late start

seed planting ~ 08MA24-02

Seedlings were started — from both purchased and gathered seed — of a number of wildflowers, rushes, and sedges. On the advice of John Morgan from Prairie Habitats we attempted to start everything including some of the grasses in soilless mix; apparently micro-organisms in the soil will get to forb seed in particular before it has a chance to germinate. However, we started a little too late in the year. We attempted to set up a rudimentary greenhouse by removing the hoarding on two bays of the garage and covering the openings with polyurethane at the end of May; it was a long cool spring with the last frost happening after the May long weekend. But as the sun started to reach its apex the amount of sunlight streaming into the front of the garage decreased every day. Hence the seed trays were mostly in shade. And the *poly* was too light duty for the exposed location; it was ripped from the supports within a few days.

About the time that we seeded almost 700 five cm pots Marc Rafford (a nearby farmer) gave us some bales of flax straw for use as mulch on the paths in the nursery. We had to move all the trays of potential seedlings into the west yard (in front of the garage) so they would receive direct sunlight. It was very windy; to prevent the seed trays from blowing away we surrounded them with the flax bails. Our research indicated that most of the seed we were starting did not require cold-stratification. While directions from two seed suppliers, from whom we bought seed, indicated otherwise on several species, we decided to try our luck without cold-stratification. Some worked, some did not. In the end we had about a 45% germination rate. We had considerable success with a few, marginal success with most, and no success with some. There was little difference between purchased or gathered seed; although we had slightly more success with seed we had gathered ourselves.

site grading revisited ~ a change of plan

east & back yard, nursery ~ 08AP15

The site drained very well in spring 2008, but a couple of changes were required. The grading in the back yard was reworked to allow for collection of more water from the nursery. Each spring the west yard drains through the nursery. This water — and there is a lot of it all at once — must then drain into the east yard. A 15 m Culvert through the back yard (which was the original plan) would likely stay frozen until mid or late June which would prevent water from draining from the nursery. We’ll either put in a shorter Culvert or build a bridge over the ditch cut through the raised path that traverses the back yard and goes up the side of the dike. For the moment, there is a temporary bridge over the ditch.

Digging the soil in the back yard was a slow process. This area collects a lot of water and was often too wet to work. While the soil absorbs the water that doesn’t drain into the east yard fairly quickly the region remains soft afterwards for quite a while; too soft for the weight of the tractor. Hence, the area was mostly dug by hand. Much of the soil was relocated to the path alongside the back of the garage with a wheelbarrow. The rest was used to raise the height of the paths in the nursery.

bridges

bridges, mini-dams & *dot*;
west yard ~ 08OC01-01

bridges & *dot*;
west yard ~ 08OC01-05

The 15 cm coffee can Culvert through the path beside the west end of the garage did not work: Water was spilling over the path in front of the garage for a couple of weeks while snow melted in the west yard. Then, when ice melted and the small diameter makeshift Culvert opened, the entire region drained in about two hours. It was somewhat magical to see landforms in the west yard suddenly appear but the torrent of water rearranged too much soil in the nursery behind the garage. The Culvert was removed, the ditch was lined with left over tarp, and a bridge was built over it. First, though, the path had to be made wider to allow for snow removal with the tractor; some years snow from the west side of the driveway has to be relocated to behind the garage. A second bridge was installed to cover the ditch through the path that runs alongside the back of the garage and connects with the main path. Mini-dams, that control the height of water in the sedge meadow and the *dot*, were also installed. The *dot* is an extension of the sedge meadow that serves as a reservoir for water exiting the west yard.

pond channel ~ 08SE19-00

pond bridge ~ 08SE19-12

After three years of building up the soil and determining the level of the exit from the pond, a bridge was constructed to connect the two sides of the mini-dike. Railroad ties were used to make the bridge strong enough that it can support the weight of the tractor. The trench was lined with chunks of broken concrete and large crushed limestone rock to prevent soil erosion. More rock will be added to both sides when it becomes available. The *shelf* on the outside of the bridge is a bench; this is a delightful spot to sit and to build a small fire.

maintenance

Wind had loosened the screws on the metal roof of the garage which meant it leaked. We learned that the original screws were not properly positioned; there should have been two screws on either side of the low part of the *corrugated* profile. There was one screw in the middle. Along with tightening the existing screws, close to 1,500 screws were added.

The aeration tubing in the pond sprung yet another leak. This is the third time that chunks of tubing have had to be removed. After the repair, the bubbles were no longer evenly spaced along the length of the tube. Two things are possible, as we contemplate how to remedy this situation: some of the tubing is turned upside down or the compressor is not keeping enough pressure in the tube (and the other compressor we have been using to *blow out* the tubing is old and does not provide enough air pressure to clear the tiny holes).

still to do

Some remaining tasks are:

• set fence posts around the nursery which will allow for fencing the area to keep snowshoe hares from eating young shrubs in the spring

• finish building up paths and dredging ditches in the nursery

• add fencing around the nursery and mulch on the paths

In reviewing all that was accomplished in 2008, it seems we did a lot but it feels like we’re falling behind. We had hoped to have the nursery set up and planted with shrubs; they will take the longest time to mature. We wanted to see more of the material we are planting in the yard growing here, instead we are engaged in an ongoing battle with many introduced species. Next year we will not have other things like grading and bridge building to occupy our time. We can focus more on planting and weeding, although we are not sure yet whether we will have a greenhouse to get seedlings started early. We are also reconsidering how we are planting areas, debating whether to switch to fall seeding; but this may not be possible inside the dike as the yard fills with water each spring; as well the sides of the pond and both ditches are often under water during spring thaw.

Robert G. Mears

October 2008

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