Optimism is out the door. This is day two of the beginning of this battle. The vines are too much.
I am debating setting them on fire myself and just starting over. There are so many and they go all the way up to the top of the trees.
That was after one day of work already.
Even with my new fancy gloves that are amazing and have protected my blistered hands (so far). So many vines. We had no burn pile…
Now we have one… tada
Working on getting it all taken care of has been ridiculous, but we have been working at it.
We were out there working and there was this fine that had been buried beneath the brush. I didn’t notice it but when I went to pull another vine it touched me and I jumped high into the air.
A little bit that has been worked. A lot of vines gone.
If you had been there you would have been impressed with how high I jumped. Regardless, no snake just a vine, but now I am on high alert.
So we have realized that not only do we have a vine problem but we also have a baby tree problem. There are so many baby trees, they litter the floor and it is already hard enough to get to the bottom.
On a positive note we found an abandoned nest
I am debating on murdering these remaining baby trees or if I am just going to cut everything around them and let them grow.
I do not see any benefits to these jungle vines. They are huge and very thick. I have to get rid of them, but it’ll be so hard. Not looking forward to the rest of the work, but I know it will be rewarding and look better too.
Woot woot, almost got one section cleared away but as you can see in the corner of the picture there are still so many vines.
Stop and just imagine for a second that plants just magically grew with little to now work…. that is just a great dream. Now pop it. I have been hoeing. These are my adventures… 🤣
The beginning of my flat hole
Well, random citizens, I have started a very small fall garden. I worked on it for an hour a day. First, I took my mighty hoe and I scraped all of the grass off of the top surface. I had to wet the soil multiple times. I did not enjoy this, but since my son hurt my tractor by hand it is.
My dog helping out in the shady parts
I had to really start moving dirt and my kids really only wanted to help with the fun stuff. I used the dirt that had all of the grass in it as an outside barrier.
I do not know why I did this, maybe I thought that it might protect the plants. We plan on putting ant poison around our beds. Something in me said, “keep it away from our precious.” My husband just rolled with it.
I really beat the fire out of the soil
The ground was so dry I found myself beating the dirt just to get what was on top. I complained a lot about how it was similar to rock- because it was. My shoulders were sore and I hate not having a working tractor. It is for the birds
Some people told me that I just needed to do raised beds in the beginning, but I’d kind of like to know how fast I would have starved in the 1820s. Right now, my family would have been doomed. I have already murdered plenty of plants from lavender to an entire vegetable garden. I really hope my luck changes this time, but just in case I am not using nearly as many seeds as I did the first go around.
Day 2 of our adventure
I gave up half way through the day because my delicate hands befell a blister. Missing my tractor. Regardless, I came back the next day with a blister and new determination. My husband felt bad for me and came out to help the second time. Although I did not work the dirt again that first day I did water it more than five times.
It did not work. The dirt was so dirt and compacted that it only glared at me. So, the ground was still tough but my husband watered it 10x more than I had because he said it made it easier for him. He could have peed on it for all I cared, he helped out a lot. I was not going to complain about his methods.
My sweet girl came out and helped me pull out some of the remaining grass that was in our rows (this was only to stay up later and plant the seeds)
I was going to do this cool thing in the circle that I had seen on the internet but my husband disagreed. Since I had messed up so horrible with our spring garden, he suggested i do fancy patterns with my plants at another time after I have become a little bit more skilled. He may be right, but if these ones die: we’re doing it the fancy way. 😒
Day three after the planting and after the first watering.
It does not look like it but I just watered those stupid seeds not even 15 minutes ago. Frankly, I am disappointed. I walked out there only to realize that I might need to put my sprinkler on them at least for today, while they’re getting started. I don’t want them to just become one with the dirt. I will update in a few days. I will also show the progress on spot two.
Spot Two will be preparing for our August 10th planters. I am excited. I saw on big names on this list. When I am done with these spots this fall I have some big plans. First- I am going to plant more grape plants. Then I am going to build a giant wooden structure to go over my bushes near the house. (I do not like the sun as much as I do the shade.) This will eventually have grapes growing all around it and I can’t wait.
So stick around and maybe I won’t kill everything this time.
Toad's Permaculture 