They say you have to start somewhere, so this is where I'll start. As some of you may know from my previous posts in different forums, I bought this property two years ago, at the height of blackberry season. I know this because the entire back half of the one-acre lot was covered in a blackberry and honeysuckle bramble chest to head high. The actual "back yard" is just a lawn surrounded by a six-foot privacy fence, so you could only get to the outside edges of the brambles behind it, and this by way of the neighbors' yards on either side. They're both nice folks and didn't object to me driving my trusty lawn tractor with the 42" mower deck around the sides and cutting pathways throughout the tangled mess so my daughter could pick the blackberries she so desperately wanted to pick...all two times. After the blackberries stopped producing, I cut the majority of them down. As you might imagine, cutting through all that honeysuckle and blackberry tangle was no easy task for my little 17hp mower, which was never intended for such a feat! But the mower made me proud, and when the tangle refused to let us through, we stubbornly refused to take "no" for an answer, backed up a little way to get a running start, shifted to a higher gear to get momentum and charged the obstinate obstacle head-on, my trusty steed often rearing up to battle the berries and hack the honeysuckle, riding them down beneath its blades! (My next-door neighbor later told me that he was amazed by what I'd achieved with just a riding mower. If he was the creative type, I'm sure he would have written an epic poem or tale commemorating the spectacle. He's not, so the task falls to me, which I'll tackle here.)
I left the brambles on either side of the property to act as a sort of "hedge" until I build a more conventional fence. It works fairly well for keeping my two dogs (recently obtained) out of the neighbors' yards, except for a few thin spots where they like to sneak through when they think I'm not looking. But it establishes a visual perimeter and, whether or not they abide by it, they do understand that it establishes the limits of our "territory". The mowed area took to growing grass surprisingly fast, and all without any assistance other than mowing. I suppose the grass was already there, just waiting for a chance to get some sunlight, because it is now, in only it's second full summer, a respectable lawn. Also, the cut, thorny stalks of the blackberries disappeared much sooner than I expected them to do.
Although it is a nice lawn now, that's just a temporary stage along the path to a (hopefully) beautiful garden, a collection of different areas created toward different specific purposes.
In the initial cutting, I also avoided any little oak saplings that I could have mowed down, along with various other trees that I admittedly couldn't mow down but, in fact, would have chosen to spare, anyway. Among those were a few large pine trees, branches low and excellent as shade trees--as "excellent" as a regular "field pine" can be, anyway, since pines aren't normally chosen to be "shade trees" in a yard or garden. Pines aren't known for longevity, but they are the only large trees already existing on the plot and they will have to suffice until the other trees grow to more permanently take their place. Actually, there are two other trees of notable size: a not quite half-grown pecan and a sweet gum (also not known for its longevity, but an "ok" shade tree and colorful in the fall). There are also several young trees that I recognized as some sort of fruit tree, but I wasn't exactly sure what kind. I kept them and trimmed them appropriately, thinking they may be native plums or at least crabapples. This spring was the first time they bloomed and set fruit, so I posted some pics here in the plant ID forum, and to my surprise, I learned that they were pears! Yep, pears. Bradford Pears. (sigh) Of all the trees they could have been, they turned out to be stinking (literally) Bradford Pears! I don't like Bradford Pears for several reasons, not the least of which is the fact that they are worthless! How can they even call themselves "pears" when you can't eat them??? I mean, even with poor little crabapples that aren't much good for snacking on, at least you can dump a bunch of sugar in with them and make a reasonable jelly. Bradford Pears? Bah, humbug! You can bet they'll be fed to the chainsaw the next time I drag it out! And when I get my big tractor over here, the stumps and roots will be gone as well. And to think I congenially and contentedly suffered all those severely thorny limbs while cutting grass beneath them! No more! Down they'll come!
Aside from those, there are the aforementioned little oaks, some of which will have to be moved to better locations (from beneath power lines), a few elms, a small willow or two (obviously begat by a large, dieing willow widow-maker that will have to be dealt with) and--I realized just recently--some elderberry bushes! So, despite my disappointment over the Bradford Pears, I do have some native edibles already growing besides the blackberries and the not-yet-producing pecan tree. (I also have a few wild lettuce plants and a young pokesalad staked out and spared from the mower's blade.)
I later removed one of the tall fence panels on the back yard fence to give me access without having to go through my neighbors' yards. I eventually stuck some hinges on one side and a latch on the other, making a cumbersome but functional gate. This came in handy when I acquired a puppy, which prompted me to replace some boards on the fence to make the back yard a safe area to contain the dog(s).
In cleaning up the property, I discovered a concrete slab right behind the back yard fence. After quite a bit of work, I managed to dig it out from under many years of decayed pine straw and leaf litter. It is a very poorly poured slab for what I was later told was once a shed. I can't say enough how badly made this slab is, but it is useful as a garden patio even as uneven as it is. I ran a very long extension cord along the fence to have lights and small water pumps for my two small patio water features. The pumps are low wattage and the few plug-in light strings are LED, so the current draw through the long extension cord is very minimal. I will later run a proper electric line, as well as a proper waterline, with outlets and faucets in several places in the garden.
In looking at my property with Google Maps and marking the corners of the property line visible on the default view, then switching to satellite view, I discovered that the entire back (western) line of my property had been skewed North, apparently over the years. This means that part of "my yard" occupies a portion of one neighbor's property, while the neighbor on the other side of me is currently using a portion of my property. So before I go forward with any plans, I'm going to have to get that issue settled, hopefully by purchasing the land currently in my care from one neighbor (since the fence was already built beyond the true property line) and reclaiming my property from the other neighbor, since he hasn't built anything on it and just cuts the grass too far over the line. Of course, these things will cost money, of which I will soon have an influx, so hopefully I will begin making progress shortly.
I have several things to do before I can get my big tractor and grader blade over here, but once I do that, I should start making some significant progress.
These are some photos of the property as it is now--the "before" pictures. I will take some pics of the garden patio soon and post them here as well.
Radly
