Gardenjournal: on clearing invasives, managing weeds and other spring preparations

I've mentioned before that when I bought my house it had been totally neglected for 10 years and only the alien invasive plants had thrived. It's taken years to clear out my yard and get a productive vegetable garden going, as well as some succulent gardens that don't require watering because in our current water situation, I am only prepared to water the vegetables. On that note, the winter vegetables did well and I am harvesting peas and Swiss chard. As expected, the spinach has bolted now that it is spring so I'll be sowing beans in their place.

My peas have been the best ever this year: winter was cold but not killer

About six weeks ago I came home from work to find the compost heap outside my yard on fire. The surrounding grasslands had been set on fire, as happens every year, and I am grateful to my neighbours for getting out the hosepipe and keeping the fire out of my place. My house is part of a communal property and there is a section that has been impassable for years due to invasive agave and cacti, a bamboo infestation and an overgrowth of climbing roses. The fire had ripped though all of that, giving me an opportunity to clear up a corner that's been an ugly eyesore for a long time but I avoided it because there has been too much else to do and winter is the only suitable time for that kind of work.

An invasive Syringa tree bouncing back

Clearing invasives is extremely labour intensive because you need to remove the roots. In my rocky environment, herbicide becomes unavoidable. Spot treatment with garlon works wonders: applied with cotton wool to the shoots only, it will kill the entire tree and there's no environmental contamination. I am not a fan of herbicide but under the right conditions, it's a godsend. Syringa is particularly difficult to get rid of because it coppices, meaning that it forms groves by sending out underground shoots.

The prickly pears already got a good burning, all that remains is to cut them down and cover with thick plastic. Unfortunately most succulent invasives must be burned because they simply reroot themselves if you cut them down.

This is my bonfire pile I'm building, it should be about double the size when I'm ready to burn

Its unpleasant work in hot, windy conditions but at the right time of the year because the soil is completely dry and loose soil digging for roots is easy if there aren't too many rocks and the fire did a lot of work for me. Once the rains arrive, I will be able to plant native trees and succulents that will be able to establish themselves over summer. Native plants don't need additional water, don't rob all the groundwater, nor do they form dense, out of control patches.

I also need to clear all the builders rubble that some lazy fool dropped here years ago and eventually the grassland will rehabilitate itself and with a little cutting every winter, there won't be the same ugly, gigantic fire hazard that existed previously.

Builder's rubble, bamboo and invasive Canary Bird Bushes...

At first there will be a bumper crop of the weeds that inevitably come to colonise disturbed soil but if properly managed, the native grasses and other grassland plants will return. The difference between ordinary weeds and invasives is that the weeds colonise disturbed soil but invasives outcompete natural vegetation and ruin ecosystems. Last year I was going to cut down all the blackjack just before flowering because cutting them reduces the seed cycles without disturbing the soil. A lot of weeds are actually good that way because they thrive in disturbed soil and the roots stabilise it against erosion and build underground colonies of microorganisms and finally the weeds eventually give way to grasses.

That was the time when I fractured my hand and couldn't do anything at a critical time window so I have had to deal with endless quantities of blackjacks in my bed thanks to the cats that got them stuck in their fur and then came to clean themselves in my bed. I swear that's not going to happen again.

That's my garden life for the last few weeks, I haven't made progress on the greenhouse because I need another pair of hands to get the covering on and don't have anyone to ask at the moment.

If you're curious about the gardenjournal, see here: https://peakd.com/@riverflows/september-1-garden-journal-challenge-for-real-this-time