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Wilbour
Member
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# Posted: 5 Jun 2015 08:54pm
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I was away from camp for the last two weekends and now I cannot believe how tall my grass is. Add to that I offered to cut my neighbors as well. Not sure how much gas is in my jerry can. Wait, another neighbor has sheep.....
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bldginsp
Member
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# Posted: 5 Jun 2015 09:39pm
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So you are complaining about how green the grass is on your side of the fence while out here in Calfornia we are letting our grass turn brown for lack of rainfall.
Silly humans. Never content.
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creeky
Member
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# Posted: 6 Jun 2015 09:26am
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The grass is growing real fast after the recent rains. All blessings I guess.
Right now there's a big flock of starlings/catbirds/flycatchers over my fields. They go in groups diving into the long grass. I watched for a bit and they are emerging with something about an inch long and quite fat. Some sort of emergent beetle?
Much to my surprise, they are returning to the trees to feed their young. Both the catbirds and the starlings have young that are flying.
ontarionature.org has two good references on grasslands management if you want to grow some birds. and save some mowing time. (google grasslands management eastern ontario)
And here's quick pic of me walking in my field last Canada Day (July 1). For reference, while I'm only about 5'8"/172cm, I am waving a small Canadian flag on a two foot stick with my arm fully extended over my head. The flag is highlighted.
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Wilbour
Member
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# Posted: 6 Jun 2015 02:45pm
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Thanks Creek.
I actually have an acre and cut the grass around the cabin, my lane way and the paths to deck and compost heap. All the rest we just let go wild. We have many birds here. Being surrounded by farms helps. Our island is known to be a haven for migrating birds. In fact I have to keep the door closed since the swallows keep flying in and out.
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Wilbour
Member
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# Posted: 6 Jun 2015 09:53pm
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Quoting: bldginsp So you are complaining about how green the grass is on your side of the fence while out here in Calfornia we are letting our grass turn brown for lack of rainfall.
You have a point. The lack of rain in CA is a terrible thing.
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bldginsp
Member
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# Posted: 7 Jun 2015 02:23am
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It will turn green here again. Meanwhile, may your sheep be well fed.
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creeky
Member
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# Posted: 7 Jun 2015 09:08am
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Your welcome Wilbour. I know from previous pics of your place that you keep your yard (imho) well mowed. ie. leaving lots of free growing space for wild stuff.
so. fyi and just me promoting nature friendly gardening. you can try spreading a mix of seed for haying/pasture into your unmown yard too. ask at the farm places if they have some of the really tall native grasses mixed in.
Tall Fescue, Tall Wheatgrass, and especially Reed Canary Grass are my favorites (8' tall). Alfalfa you can add to salads and make tea with. I sometimes harvest a few seed grains from the grasses and put them in smoothies or just eat em.
I'm always careful with clover. the white in particular. makes a great lawn if mowed. but when it flowers you will have lots of bees. so if the clover is in your walkway/play areas you may want to mow low before stomping around.
I learned this by getting 5 bee stings in one afternoon. I'm not allergic and you can treat with vinegar to take the itch away. but ... not everybody likes bee stings.
(he says with classic understatement ;)
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Steve_S
Member
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# Posted: 7 Jun 2015 09:13am
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Geez Creeky, what'ya growing there bud ? In the past week some patches have grown over a metre at my place while other patches haven't. We bought the land in August last year so we never got to watch spring & summer unfurl on there and it's sure presenting some interesting vegetation. Last fall I spent 3 days with an Outback Brush Hog clearing out the tall growth to see the surface and find the "land mines" (rocks & things which pop holes in Oil Pans).
The land we have was never farmed or used for more than grazing cattle limitedly. The areas we spread out the topsoil from our driveway & building pad excavating are now shooting every sort of flowering plant & goodness knows what else... I just hope that many of the Juniper's I had to attack last year don't make a comeback... they are very persistent.
Magz and I talked about it and we want to leave it as "natural" as possible (no lawn / domestic grasses). We do want to get a decent garden in next spring so I am pondering the best "cover" that we can put over the area we want for that to prevent growth this year. One fellow suggested covering the "garden plot" with landscaping fabric this year to kill off things while allowing water through...
Couple of Pics (before brush cutting & after)
BEFORE; From the laneway up the clearing. The future Garden is going here.
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BEFORE; Where the "Cabin pad" is now and being built on
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DURING; clearing out, from laneway up the clearing.
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AFTER; Cabin Pad area cleared of brush. (1 of 3 natural shelves on the hill)
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creeky
Member
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# Posted: 7 Jun 2015 11:39am
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hey stevealuski,
if I had a pics of what your garden area looks like right now and if you took a shovel, stuck it in the ground and took a pic of what comes out. dat would help.
from what I see. that's thin light green growth. indicating an iron & nitrogen deficiency.
so you haz two options. one: bring in some garden soil, dump it where you want the gardens. build up. (and creek says  )
two: go buy some red/white clover. you need about an ounce. mix with sand. and broadcast over the area you more or less want as your garden. that will help the tilth of the soil and fix nitrogen.
not knowing what your soil really is (but in your area. thin. poor. glacial deposits.) I'ma guessin'.
wilbour doesn't have this problem. his soil is what other people bring in for their gardens.
btw. you typically only need to cover your soil for a few weeks. you're trying to kill off the top growth and bake the weed seeds. black plastic works best. as it amplifies the heat. but any plastic / tarps / leftover bedsheeting etc will do.
ps. if I seemz awful, um, knowledgeable, it's because I'm reading a book on "ecological gardening" and just finished the composting section. 
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Gary O
Member
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# Posted: 7 Jun 2015 02:48pm
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dang, looks like it's time to mow;
now, where'd I put them scissors
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Steve_S
Member
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# Posted: 7 Jun 2015 04:10pm
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@ Creekster; Those pics were from last fall in August... remember the long hot dry period. Everything is marvellously GREEN & HEALTHY right now. The soil over the garden area is the top soil dug out of the driveway & building pad. Deep rich black earth with lot's a rocks and some sandy loam mixed in it... The loam came from below the black earth.
My next run to the lumber yard, I'll grab some of those lumber wraps that cover the lumber during shipping.... They chuck em out, but they will do the job nicely I think. Lay some of those down & toss rocks around the covering to keep it in place.
You also just reminded me to get a Soil Test Kit for PH etc... Best to know what the state of that soil is. Given that apple trees are growing as well as cedars/pines, maples etc it may be a tad on the acidic side but not too much as apple trees don't tolerate acid soils well.
Been contemplating getting some of my own apple trees, a couple of varieties and putting them on my N-E side of the garden area. The ones growing there now are quite tasty, we found 4 different types... likely seeds deposited by the wildlife which grew over the years.
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