silver plains project ~ chronicle for 2009 silver plains project ~ chronicle for 2009

if it was easy, everybody would be doing it

We got a late start in the spring of 2009. The fourth highest flood since 1800, which crested on April 21, was unpredictable. For the longest time it seemed that we did not have to concern ourselves about it. Then the water started to rise in the fields to the north and the east and in the highway ditch out front. Fortunately we covered the outside of the culvert that drains the east yard through the south dike; water in the highway ditch rose higher than the top of the culvert. The inside of the yard stayed dry, relatively speaking: water from frequent rains in April and early May stayed in the yard until we could uncover the culvert around the middle of the latter month.

It was a very wet spring. As well, cool temperatures — the coldest spring on record in these parts — slowed the drying processes of evaporation and absorption of water. Areas of the yard that were more or less clear of vegetation the previous fall remained too wet to walk on them until June, let alone do any work. For the second year in a row the last frost happened a week later than the previous norm which is the May long weekendThe third Monday in May..

As we waited for the flood to crest, but before we covered the culvert, we had to dig a temporary trench through the path between the thumb portion of the front yard and the east yard. A 10 cm mini-culvert was filled with ice. (Snow melt in the front yard had also turned to ice.) After several futile attempts to dislodge the 2.9 m long plug of ice that remained inside the 3 m long pipe, the only solution was to dig a trench down to the pipe so that water could drain from the front yard. It seemed prudent to get as much water as possible out of the yard before covering the culvert on the outside of the dike. The narrow pipe was removed and later replaced with an improvised culvert made from a sheet of recycled galvanized siding. (The previous owner of the property left about 50 sheets of the material in the garage.)

Prior to this the mini-dams in the west yard were swept away by the torrent of water that released when ice under the bridges melted. It was not a good idea to leave the dams in place in the fall, at least not until there is sufficient grass, et cetera, growing in the soil that holds the frames in place. Both frames and dams were re-installed when the ground dried out some.

And the bridge over the outlet of the pond — where it drains into the east ditch — was moved slightly by wave action on the higher than usual water in the pond and east ditch. We put twenty pails filled with water on top of the bridge to prevent it from floating away, but the weight was insufficient. We learned that 13 railroad ties have considerable buoyancy when they are joined together. The bridge moved about 50 cm south and rotated about 10° clockwise during the flood. It was *polled* back into position as the water receded. Some of the earth from the mini-dike that supports the bridge was washed away and was later replaced. Five cm crushed limestone rocks — pieces from the under layer on the driveway that weren’t driven in completely before the finer stone was put on top — were put in the trench on either side of the bridge to reduce soil erosion in the future.

Digging was resumed in the back yard. And mini-culverts were placed through the path that loops around behind the dwelling unit. These are much closer to the surface, hence will likely thaw more quickly.

WARNING: weeding can be addictive

The summer of 2009, once all of the repairs were completed, was mostly occupied with weeding; although we also made a few trips to regions of the province where native flora still remains to take photographs and scout out locations to obtain seed.

In the photo here, the red *mat* is from thousands of seeds germinating after the flood water receded. This stretch was completely cleared of vegetation in the fall of 2008 but the flood deposited a lot of seed of unwanted plants. Fortunately nothing desirable was planted there yet. Once it dried out the area was harrowed to eliminate the new batch of weeds. Harrowing was repeated four more times over the summer as new species — like round-leaved mallow — kept coming up between clearing sessions. This method works if one can get to the area before the plants get too big: the tines on the harrow are not long enough to remove plants that have had a chance to grow; all the harrow does is beat them up. With annuals this is sufficient to prevent them from flowering and setting seed. But most of the biennials and perennials that survived were plucked or dug up.

When we started weeding the west yard we realized that we had misidentified a plant that is now proliferating in the region. What I thought was rush-like sedge is actually an introduced grass named meadow foxtail, Alopecurus pratensis L.. We had planted two bunches of the *grass* two years before. It had multiplied in 2008 and we discovered even more of it coming up this year in and around the west yard as we had let the seed drop the previous year. By the time we realized our error it was too late to dig it out; we removed the seed heads as they emerged to slow down the plants’ spread. It is one of the first grasses to come up in the spring; and we know what it looks like. However, eliminating it may be a challenge: this grass has serious rhizomes. There is another large bunch of it on the east side of the pond which we have to remove as well.

 

We have also been reminded that Nuttall’s alkali grass re-seeds and spreads rapidly where there is little or no competition from other species. Nuttall’s alkali grass is a beautiful native grass; but we are finding that many plants grow taller than our research has indicated and this particular grass is one of them. It has reached heights of almost a meter (it’s supposed to only grow 60 cm tall) and is obscuring many other plants in the region as it is filling in the west yard where rushes and sedges are the desired plants.

While Nuttall’s alkali grass is a problem in the west yard, we seeded the east ditch with it at the end of the previous summer. Even though the region was under a lot of water (for more than a month) in the spring of this year the Nuttall’s appeared; it seems that just about every seed germinated. In the east ditch this grass works well. We later added more of its seed to the *blank* strip on the eastern edge of the ditch. In early June the alfalfa crop on the neighbouring field was sprayed with herbicide. Drift of the chemical killed a 1.5 to 2 m wide strip of newly planted grass for the entire length of the ditch on our side of the property line.

a walk in the park

In the middle of June we drove out to the northwestern edge of Whiteshell Provincial Park. En route we stopped many times to investigate what was growing in the ditches. Lots of hoary puccoon and scarlet paintbrush. And, we found, for the first time, some thinleaf cotton grass. Intriguing plant. When we returned home and walked through the west yard we were reminded of the park. The scale doesn’t compare, obviously, and even though we have a long way to go before the region is fully planted, it felt much the same as the protected area. A week later we made a trip over to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve; nothing much was in bloom, but we were able to get photos of philadelphia fleabane and golden alexander. On the way home we stopped in to see Georges Beaudry. Georges and his wife Florence run a private campsite called O Roseau on their 16 ha forested property. We met them in 2007 at Prairie Days at the Tallgrass Preserve. Georges’ approach to his wilderness property is to leave as small a human footprint as possible. When we visited with him this time we talked about a number of things, including where to get shrubs. He recommended the Prairie Shelterbelt Program to us. He had been trying unsuccessfully to grow sweet grass; we suggested a few links to websites with information.

 

In the latter part of July we drove over to the Tallgrass Preserve again, looking for sources for seed and taking photographs. We saw, for the first time in the wild, some Culver’s root and discovered two new plants to add to the list for the yard: blue giant hysop and smooth camas. Near the Agassiz Interpretive Trail the endangered western prairie fringed orchids were in bloom.

on removing rhizomatous plants

Have I mentioned weeding? Well, you haven’t truly lived until you’ve spent a couple of months digging smooth brome and quackgrass out of argillaceousContaining, made of, or resembling clay; clayey. soil.

Many of the plants we are trying to eradicate will simply pull out if the soil is the right moisture condition. Some of them, like dandelions, Canada thistles, and docks require a little assistance: pushing in a weeding fork to loosen the taproot. But smooth brome and quackgrass have rhizomes that radiate out in all directions from the visible plant. We have unearthed many that are 80 cm long; often there are three to five rhizomes growing alongside each other like organic electrical wiring. If desirable plants are growing with the rhizomatous ones they get damaged when the unwanted plants are removed. Blue grama grass that we seeded on slopes of the dike last summer didn’t germinate that well. However, where blue grama did come up and is growing with smooth brome or quackgrass it is near impossible to remove one and not the other. As a result, we have realized the importance of eliminating the two introduced grasses first. This is proving to be a challenge. The rhizomes often snap while digging them out and small pieces remain in the ground; or on occasion there are rhizomes that hadn’t yet sent up blades of grass. All too often an area appeared to have been completely cleared then a week or so later telltale shoots appeared and lengths of rhizome were found still intact. This last is especially discouraging when it happens after seeding and watering a cleared area.

When you spend so much time close to something you notice things you never knew before. I had no idea that there are insects that live under the surface of the soil: White grubs, cut worms, and a couple of beetles were frequently unearthed, along with an occasional earthworm, and grasshopper or cricket eggs in clusters. And the consistency and texture of the soil is quite varied. The dike, in particular, was made with soil that was dug out from where the pond is now. It is not the clay loam mix that the region is known for. Often there are chunks of pure clay near the surface. Both types of soil absorb and retain water pretty much the same way. At the two extremes — very wet and almost dry — weeding is not possible. The soil does not release from plants’ roots when it’s wet and the ground is too hard to dig when it’s dry. However, most plants come out without too much effort or fussing when the soil is dry / moist to moist; although this is understating the case when talking about the plants with rhizomes . What adds to the challenge is there are many persistent *weeds*. We also noticed that we have a new invader to deal with next year: Three or four varieties of clover have made a significant appearance. They may prove worse than the two grasses just mentioned.

it wasn't all removal, we did plant some grasses and wildflowers

 

We sowed blue grama grass seed on the slope of the front yard and on two small areas on the slope of the dike in the west yard by the last week of July; a third area beside the pond was seeded during the second week of August. We changed our minds about using blue grama grass on the paths. It is a wonderful grass; very lush when it reaches maturity. It will likely serve well as lawn grass but it doesn’t seem tough enough to be turf grass and the paths get a lot of traffic. Instead, we decided to cover the paths with flax straw and use the blue grama for a few seating areas that won’t be walked on as much as paths around the yard.

Much of the seed that we started in 5 cm pots germinated this year. We were able to add:
    fringed brome
    junegrass
    tall mannagrass
    marsh muhly
    northern reedgrass
    golden alexander
    bergamot
    yellow coneflower
    philadelphia fleabane
    purple boneset
    flodman’s thistle

And we purchased a few plants: little bluestem, marsh marigold, pussytoes, western silvery aster. Some other material, that we thought had died, returned from last year: fowl mannagrass, purple boneset, helenium, yellow coneflower, philadelphia fleabane, and threesquare bulrush.

But because of our lack of success with summer seeding and with starting plants in containers then planting them out (all too often to watch them die) we decided to switch to fall or frost seeding.

 

In late August, September, and Early October we gathered seed, some from the yard, some from spots we had visited earlier in the summer.

We put up four snow fences and placed railroad ties on top of the dike to collect snow. We watched much of the top layer of soil blow away during the previous winter. Apparently soil, without vegetation growing in it, freeze dries to about 2.5 cm deep. It was very cold and usually windy when the snow fell last year. Not much of it stayed on the yard. We were not happy to see what drifts there were turning black beside areas with bare soil. We were determined to hang on to the soil this winter.

 

After sorting the seed and mixing it into batches for respective regions we sowed the east ditch, a third of the east side of the pond, and parts of the front, east, west, and back yards. This didn't happen all at once. We had to wait for snow to accumulate in some areas. And the railroad ties, which we placed on top of the dike, didn't work to collect snow; we had to pile snow on exposed areas with the tractor. Two days of wet snow in mid-January helped to cover some remaining areas; still it was February before we finally finished frost seeding.

 

One of our objectives, in 2009, was to remove as many of the rhizomatous introduced plants as we could. We were somewhat successful at this but, as we walked around the yard before the snow started falling, we saw new *weeds* coming up every day. We have to get this site planted or they will take over again. Between spending so much time weeding and dodging the weather — which often times prevented us from being on the yard — we were unable to work much on the nursery; it too has started to become overgrown with many undesirables. Getting it in order is a priority for 2010.

Robert G. Mears

February 2010

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