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Erik called before he came over for breakfast yesterday morning with words that were music to my ears -- "I'm putting on old pants in case you want to work in your yard."
Not only help, but voluntary help! I had to use this rare opportunity to it's utmost. I schemed throughout breakfast, then announced that It Was Time To Tackle The Wisteria.
For those who have not seen my yard, the wisteria is perilously close to the house and right underneath a lilac. It had been growing up through the lilac and snapping off it's limbs until I performed a wisteria-ectomy a month ago. Since I love lilac this was a poor strategic decision on the wisteria's part. It's aggressive nature combined with the fact that it's invasive in much of the US and likely to become so here warranted it's complete removal.
Whacking off the rest of the stems was easy, because I'd done so much destruction when I gave the lilac it's wisterectomy. The saws-all got the main trunk to a manageable size, at which point I set Erik to digging. He started a good 2 or 3 feet away from the stem (while I dug up a rose for transplant and finished removing some small tree stumps). I looked up to hear him moaning that the ROOTS GO EVERYWHERE.
He was standing on the main stem of the wisteria, which was in a giant hole, still supported by roots as big around as my wrist going into the earth, well, everywhere. On the one hand, that hole was already huge, and it was clearly going to get a lot bigger if I really wanted root removal. On the other hand, there's nothing I like more than a man willing to stand on the corpses of my enemies.
(I mentioned that, and he pointed to roots he'd been digging up and said "I hunt down their families, too!).
Eventually Erik left to get ready for rehearsal, claiming dispiritedly that the wisteria was just luring him into digging a hole so big that he could lay down beside it, and I could re-bury them both.I took up where he left off. For hours. I started to understand why, when he left, he looked like a man broken in both body and spirit.
Wisteria roots go on FOREVER. The original hole is now re-filled. It had to be, because I was hunting the roots that went strait under the dirt pile. I've now tracked them several yards away from the parent plant. Several are still too big to be cut with loppers. Wisteria roots are sticking up all over that corner of the yard, which now resembles a war-zone. I've slathered the cut-ends with Plant-B-Dead, but I don't know if it's strong enough to work.
My back hurts. I feel old.
On the upside, a large portion of the yard no longer has sod, and has very aerated soil, so when I figure out what to plant there it'll be easy. And I should do that soon, because after the work I did while Erik started digging the Pit Of Wisteria, that section of the yard is the first to be truly blackberry, ivy, and stump free!
Not only help, but voluntary help! I had to use this rare opportunity to it's utmost. I schemed throughout breakfast, then announced that It Was Time To Tackle The Wisteria.
For those who have not seen my yard, the wisteria is perilously close to the house and right underneath a lilac. It had been growing up through the lilac and snapping off it's limbs until I performed a wisteria-ectomy a month ago. Since I love lilac this was a poor strategic decision on the wisteria's part. It's aggressive nature combined with the fact that it's invasive in much of the US and likely to become so here warranted it's complete removal.
Whacking off the rest of the stems was easy, because I'd done so much destruction when I gave the lilac it's wisterectomy. The saws-all got the main trunk to a manageable size, at which point I set Erik to digging. He started a good 2 or 3 feet away from the stem (while I dug up a rose for transplant and finished removing some small tree stumps). I looked up to hear him moaning that the ROOTS GO EVERYWHERE.
He was standing on the main stem of the wisteria, which was in a giant hole, still supported by roots as big around as my wrist going into the earth, well, everywhere. On the one hand, that hole was already huge, and it was clearly going to get a lot bigger if I really wanted root removal. On the other hand, there's nothing I like more than a man willing to stand on the corpses of my enemies.
(I mentioned that, and he pointed to roots he'd been digging up and said "I hunt down their families, too!).
Eventually Erik left to get ready for rehearsal, claiming dispiritedly that the wisteria was just luring him into digging a hole so big that he could lay down beside it, and I could re-bury them both.I took up where he left off. For hours. I started to understand why, when he left, he looked like a man broken in both body and spirit.
Wisteria roots go on FOREVER. The original hole is now re-filled. It had to be, because I was hunting the roots that went strait under the dirt pile. I've now tracked them several yards away from the parent plant. Several are still too big to be cut with loppers. Wisteria roots are sticking up all over that corner of the yard, which now resembles a war-zone. I've slathered the cut-ends with Plant-B-Dead, but I don't know if it's strong enough to work.
My back hurts. I feel old.
On the upside, a large portion of the yard no longer has sod, and has very aerated soil, so when I figure out what to plant there it'll be easy. And I should do that soon, because after the work I did while Erik started digging the Pit Of Wisteria, that section of the yard is the first to be truly blackberry, ivy, and stump free!
