The project of converting my front yard from turf grass with Asian shrubs to all native plants.
I think of these as hedge skeletons. When I started pulling the Asian plants out of the yard, I wasn't able to remove the hedges. At the time I didn't have any saws equal to the task. So I pruned them down as far as I could with the yard tools I had. And that left skeletons.
The yard grows gradually tidier as I continue moving five logs per day.
It's common for people to confuse invasive with aggressive. It makes sense: if something is assaulting your landscaping and just taking it right over, It feels like an invasion.
I have a hard time telling the difference between clover and oxalis. This is probably oxalis. Luckily I don't need to tell the difference because neither one of them belong in my project.
July 03, 2023
I'm not good at tree identification yet, so this is how I find out that there must be an elm tree around here. I used an app to identify this potential weed.
This is winged elm. I don't want it in my flower bed obviously.
July 03, 2023
Here's the dog fennel that I was talking about. It looks like a fun plant. It's very bright and soft and feathery. But it grows like wildfire. And when it gets older it turns darker and the stem becomes woody and difficult to cut. The roots get deeper and it becomes difficult to pull as well.
Also, it's not edible. Best to pull these anytime I see them.
July 03, 2023
I really like spiderwort and around here, it's all over the place in the springtime, especially along the highways. I definitely plan to have some in the project.
If you ask somebody what a weed is, you may get a pretty emotional answer. A lot of us think of weeds as noxious killers that take our food away from us. A pestilence.
At its essence, weed just means a plant that is growing where it's not wanted.
My roommates and I have had a rough time working out the yard chores because obviously they don't want to mess up my project. And I'm not always great at explaining what needs to be done where.
Clethodim is a grass selective herbicide I'm using to eradicate the turf grass in the project. When I mowed this whole section, I applied Clethodim everywhere except in the dog fence area. Now I've moved the fence to mow more and complete the application.