Thursday, October 13, 2016

winter 2016

 The summer has ended and we have a new group coming to help clearing the site for fall planting.  Thanks Fred Hutchenson immunology for taking a friday with us.


 The hill side that was cleared this spring needed a little weeding. We have had persistent problems with Morning Glory and Canadian thistle colonizing sites we have cleared of blackberry and hawthorn. The only control seems to be frequent weeding during the summer to prevent seed forming.

Contractors hired by GSP treated holly, privit and hawthorn with herbicide (some for the second time) to reduce the "seed rain" that these plants produce in the form of nuts, berries and seeds that are spread by the foraging birds and squirrels.  It's estimated that the volume of Holly doubles every 6 years from this growth activity in the Puget Sound trough.
This hill is steep, water rolls right off it, that's why we have to mulch it periodically, and attempted to make a swale from the debris piles that were left from the last blackberry and clematis removal.  Here you can see our unrelenting rose bush removal team going for round three in their attempt to control a particularly viscous specimen that has escaped somebody's garden and hybridized itself  to the site.














                                                                                       Whatever happens, we take a break at noon to recharge and finish strong, more photos to come of the plant's when they arrive.