The invasive plant saga: phase 2
I got all my chainsaw massacres finished yesterday, all fingers and toes still there, no damaged extension cords and by the end of it, I think I had gotten better at calculating the cutting angles.
I also have a huge heap of 4 o'clock plant stems and leaves to make compost with.
An even huger heap of cut Syringa branches and trunks
There was method in my madness of piling all the branches there: under all that is a very large stand of prickly pear. The lack of light in this weather will encourage rotting, especially of parts that were damaged by the tree-felling. I like the idea of a two-for-the-price-of-one task and once the wood is dry, I will burn it there.
Which brings me to the next tasks:
This large spread of prickly pears will have to be chopped up with a machete and the leaves placed under plastic to rot. It's a relatively easy job
Sisal is difficult unless you have a hedge trimmer, which I don't, and this clump is going to need a stem-injection of herbicide in all the large plants. The smaller offsets can be dug out and also placed under plastic to rot. In the background there is Canary bush, which needs chopping out
diagonally behind that is a clump of bamboo. These plants are so tough, the culms are literally growing on the rocks
Seen enough? But wait, there's more!
Century aloe has formed an impenetrable thicket around the edges. This is relatively easy to slice the leaves off with a machete. Then the large plants will also get a stem-injection of herbicide. The little offsets need to be dug out and left to rot
Then there's also the Lantana outside the gate which I have started cutting back but I will apply herbicide to the new growth in winter.
Sigh.... At least the cooler weather is conducive to getting things done.
You can eat those prickley pair cactus pads, they are pretty good. I've juiced the pears as well, though looks like you have quite a bunch of them, perhaps a time consuming canning project?
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I have eaten the young pads and I agree they are good. I also eat the pears but by now I'm a little tired of removing tiny glochid spines from my fingers. The reality is also that the opuntia is being spread elsewhere and needs to go
These were everywhere in arizona where i grew up. We had all sorts of recipes for them. Wild pigs would always raid our cactus leaving cartoonish bite marks out of the pads.
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The wild pigs were ok with the spines? How did you deal with the glochid spines?
Yeah those javelina eat the spines, they even eat cholla cactus (aka jumping cactus) which are way more spiny. When i used to hunt quail i would see javelina in packs with many of them sporting thorns in their snout.
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Ouch!
The way we dealt with the spines was to burn them off the tiny spines burn up quickly. Usually a natural gas burner for a few seconds gets rid of the tiny fuzzy ones. The rest of the big ones are cutoff with a paring knife. A fancy kitchen blow torch would do the job perfectly but i used my range burners.
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Thanks for that, sounds exactly right. I'll also use the kitchen gas stove
What do they taste like?
Oddly enough, they taste a bit like green beans
They are good boiled or pan fried. I really like them scrambled with eggs. Kind of reminds me of tomatillo or green chili with a tart flavor.
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Wow!!! This is great. If i may ask, what were your plans with this cutting and felling off the sticks and stuff planted?
I live on the edge of a small nature reserve. All the plants I have shown here are declared alien invasive species in my country and they outcompete natural vegetation. I prefer not to add to the problem. If you look through my blog, you'll see all the interesting native plants that are being displaced by invasive plants
That’s an amazing amount of hard work done! You are like a tree doctor who knows where to operate on the growth!!
I might need you in my garden soon!
Cheers.
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I'm sure your team are better than me at understanding the cutting. I am just learning as I go along
These local workers don’t know much about how to trim big trees! They are more used to planting rice, vegetables and fruit trees. I have to supervise their work and advise them which branches should be taken down and tell them why.
I am also learning a lot from books and experiences!
Cheers.
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Leo todas esas tareas que usted ha mencionado y me impresiona, creo que es demasiado trabajo. A menos que tenga ayudantes creo que aun le queda mucho por hacer.
You are right there but it doesn't all have to be done in one day
I see real logging works at you. You apparently seriously set about putting your site in order.
Oh!!!!
It is hard and long work!