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| My God… it's full of pines! |
So, native or exotic, the plants start springing up in places where they’re not wanted. Left alone long enough, they’ll take over completely. Since Saturday was the first really nice weekend day in a long time, I spent the morning cutting firewood from a big deadfall. Then, I spent a pleasant afternoon outside, laying waste to holly and pine trees that were growing where they didn’t need to grow. Those about as big around as my thumb (or smaller), I yanked out of the ground. Up to quarter-size or so, the loppers did for them. Beyond that, it was up to the handsaw. (The chainsaw I reserved for trees roughly 3 inches across or more. A handsaw is actually more convenient for smaller stuff.)
The photo shows a partially-cleared stand near the back corner of the house. I laid waste to all the little pines here, then moved along the side of the house and cleared the path from the driveway to the propane tank. There was also much activity on the opposite corner, where trees were growing right up next to the detached garage, and there are several very tall trees (two cypresses and a holly) that needed lower branches trimmed back. And pines. Pines everywhere. After a timber company cleared them out about six years ago, they tried to spring right back up. Actually, they have, everywhere we haven’t kept them cleared out.
I can hope that next weekend will be equally pleasant. I’m actually taking today off, but only because Daughter Dearest is going in for gall bladder removal. Someone has to watch Mason.
Speaking of Mason, I need to post more of his ad hoc photography soon.
'tis the season for controlling nature's exuberance!
ReplyDeleteLiving in a townhouse I often dream about having a real yard with space and trees and privacy... I forget about all the maintenance involved. We also spent Saturday doing yard work, but needless to say it was a heck of a lot less exstensive. This is a nice reminder to be thankful for the little patch of land we have.
ReplyDeletePines are amazing. They're like tree-size weeds.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, Tony, indeed!
ReplyDeleteBev, you could either do the yard work or pay someone else to do it. :-P Lots more to do, but I'm not sure when I'll have the chance to have at it.
Katherine, pines can be useful, though. Too bad they have so much creosote, or they'd be great firewood! The introduced plants that are like weeds are just as bad, or worse. Pines at least have so far stayed out of the yard.