We got the chain saw working yesterday. Yay! It took forever, because we didn't understand the starting directions at first. You have to open up the choke all the way, then pull the cord just until it starts to fire. Then close the choke and keep pulling the cord until it catches. We left the choke open, so we were just pulling the starter over and over, and flooding the engine.
But we did figure it out eventually and get the saw running. Georg cut down a tree! Well okay, really a sapling. Just a bit too big for me to encircle with my two hands. (Which is smaller than most of you will imagine because I have small hands. Speaking of which, I recently discovered the cost-saving tip that kid's gardening gloves fit me better and cost half as much.) We also cut up a bunch of fallen wood that had been laying around. We have several more saplings that need to go, but we were so worn out from trying to start the darned saw that we had to leave them for another day.
Georg had used a chain saw before but I never had, so I was a total safety freak. Which is not a bad thing when dealing with such a dangerous tool, I think. Goggles of course, also I made Georg wear a hard hat, and tried to convince him to wear his leather jacket but he didn't want to mess it up. I did some sawing too, cutting up the sapling once it was on the ground, and Georg showed me how to hold the saw so that if it kicked back, it would go away from me. It didn't kick, but it was hard to control because of the vibrations. Also I noticed that sometimes when you let go of the trigger, the blade keeps moving. Which was a bit scary.
Even though we only got one sapling cut down, the backyard is already starting to look bigger. It's going to look huge when we get the rest of them down. It was a great weekend besides the chain saw victory too. Yesterday morning I help Lisa sew curtains for 9 Westy. We only got one curtain most of the way made, but it was the most complicated one, and made of a slippery fabric, so I was glad to be able to help. Then before the sawing I spent some time in the afternoon hauling and stacking the logs from that felled tree.
I worked out a system for moving the logs which perfectly encapsulates my "macho woman/wussy girl" approach: First, turn over log. Inspect for creepy crawlies. If found, squeal and jump back. Wait for creepy crawlies to disperse. Carry or roll log (depending on size) over to woodpile; heave up onto pile. If carrying, be sure no part of body except gloved hands touch log. Actually, it's not totally ridiculous to be so concerned about the critters, because poisonous brown recluse spiders love to nest in rotting wood. And I know several people who have been bitten. So there's a good reason to be squeamish. The wussiest thing I did was when a bug flew up and bumped into my nose. I reached up to brush it off, thought it had gone inside my nose, and started freaking out, "eee"ing and trying to yank out ... my nose ring. Good thing I figured out what was going on before I succeeded in pulling it out!
Saturday was fun too. It was a great mail day: I got my invitation to the Chapel Hill Christmas parade, some blueberry plants I had mail ordered, and best of all, a wonderful gift from my friend Nellorat. It's a little box decorated with charms that represent all different parts of my life. The art car, my dogs, computing, music, tarot, sewing, gardening .. it's all there. I just can't get over how thoughtful it is. I'm trying to decide what to put in it. Maybe ribbons or buttons.
We hadn't gone to the mail center in a few days so we weren't sure how long the blueberry plants had been sitting there. So, after giving them a few hours in the shade to get used to being outside again, we planted them that day. They are so cute! We put them near the big pine tree where they'll get lots of sun, also the soil should be nice and acidic which blueberries like. They aren't supposed to bear fruit until the year after next, but I bought varieties that are supposed to cross-pollinate well so I hope we'll get lots of fruit.
Then I mowed the lawn, which is definitely the most boring part of yardwork. Too bad it has to be done so often. At least I feel all environmentally virtuous since we use an electric mower. While I was doing that, Georg started working on pulling up the bamboo in the back yard. We got instructions on how to deal with it from that show Gardening by the Yard. (By the way, I love that show.) The bad news is that bamboo will come back from even the smallest piece of root. But the good news is that when unobstructed, the roots are shallow. So we'll probably have to dig up that entire area, but at least we won't have to dig too deep. The area where it's growing was used by previous owners for an above-ground pool. Georg said the bamboo comes up really easily from the gravel around the pool area, but clings tenaciously to the sand that was directly under the pool.
The hard part will be preventing the bamboo from invading again. Our neighbors have a huge growth of it. (And can I just say, I think planting invasive bamboo on the edge of your property is just as rude and stupid as letting your teenage son's rock band practice outside with the amps turned up to 11.) According to Gardening by the Yard, the one effective way to keep bamboo out is to dig a trench 30" deep and install a thick underground barrier. (you can also use this barrier to keep bamboo in, if you want to plant it but prevent it from spreading.) I'm sure that will be fun. Once we get it all pulled up, we can measure and find out how much of the barrier we need to order. I don't think they sell it at Home Depot.
7 Comments
good lord... what's the most efficient way to dig a 30" trench?!? we've got bamboo coming out our asses (not literally) and would love to contain it... but 30"??!? damn!
They make long narrow shovels for digging trenches. Unfortunately, our soil is so heavy that I was going to use our pickaxe (which is actually called a maddox or mattox I think) for most of the digging. But the skinny shovel would be good for scooping out the soil.
another thing i've heard about bamboo, is that once you've eliminated the big stalks, if you are vigilant about mowing/cutting the new growth, eventually the little rhizomes will wear themselves out and quit growing back. i have not scientifically tested this method.
i'm sure this was in the show too, but you have to make sure the barrier is angled correctly because the sneaky bamboo can still escape.
We were thinking about putting down flagstones and turning the unwanted bamboo patch into a seating area. I think (hope!) that the stones will help stifle any little rhizomes that might be left behind.
On the show they didn't say anything about the angle -- no wait, they did say that you had to make sure the barrier stayed vertical, didn't lean, and extended up a couple of inches above ground. Is that what you heard too?
I found this web page: http://www.deeproot.com/products/products.php?SL=geomembranes&BL=1 but I don't think those are the same people as on the show. Because the page recommends using "sealant tape" for a circular barrier, but on the show they said eventually the bamboo would get through tape. Our barrier won't be circular so I guess we don't have to worry about that.
Turns out the pickaxe is actually called a 'mattock.' I was close.
That stuff is notoriously hard to get rid of. In my experience that 30" figure is a minimum. That means you're going to have to dig at least 30" down throughout the area to find the roots. And of course it doesn't spread just by roots, since you'll probably notice that it's by the sides of many roads.
Anybody who plants that stuff deserves to end up in the compost pile.
Good luck,
Michael
"mattock" (not to be confused with Matlock).
Once I was digging a hole for a friend, using a mattock to bash through lots of clay and rock. It was hard work and I had been suffering at it for a while when Peggy's son Kent came by. Peggy pointed at me and said, "That's Phil. He's happy." Kent said, "The man with the mattock is always happy."
Hi Michael, I think my neighbors' bamboo must be a less aggressive variety than what you've dealt with. Because the stuff we've pulled up so far, the roots were all in the first few inches of soil. And if it spread another way besides runners, it would be all over my yard by now. So I think that getting rid of our bamboo problem is going to be hard work, but not insurmountable. (cross my fingers!)
Phil: I'm happy when I have my mattock! After trying to dig through clay and rocks with a shovel, using the mattock seems shockingly easy in comparison.