Proper way to mow

[Ken Sterling]

Sounds like a bad yoke to me.... Ken.

[Joel Corwith]

"Don't go into the tall grass" - Soon to be dead guy in one of those Jurassic Park movies

Joel. phx

[Dukester]

I'm fascinated with this idea but don't know how to apply it practically. We own 9 acres that are mostly pasture and some dense tree areas. In the pasture areas there are sporadic trees that are 1'-2' high that we planted in the past 2-3 years, in other areas plenty of Sweetgums and Cedars, and a few Oaks coming up (I live in Mississippi). I was just letting most of the land "go" with trails through it all, and a regular lawn area close to the house.

It looked kind of strange having a lawn that ended abruptly turning into a

5' high weedy area. Mostly it was turning to blackberry and thorny vines, and then eventually honeysuckle that strangled everything. I can show you honeysuckle vines I saved that were 2" in diameter that literally cut oak saplings in half. There was also a tremendous fire danger in the fall and winter when all the sedge (sage?) grass turned dry. Not knowing what else to do, last month I went full bore and bush-hogged everything except for the trees which I flagged beforehand. It looks ok now, but I dread the idea of doing that all summer; that was a bear to cut through.

Without buying goats or cows, what other way is there to maintain such an area except for cutting it like 1 big ole yard? I'm all for reducing my mowing time.

-- Cheers! Duke

[Ecnerwal]

Sheep or geese (geese are also handy for notification of visitors/robbers, per another thread). But I'm guessing you don't want livestock at all - though livestock are the best way to keep a meadow as a meadow.

Bush-hogging a few times a year will keep it somewhat under control - I'm guessing from what you said that you had left it for several years before your recent outing with the bush-hog, which does make the job more difficult. If you're essentially turning it into open forest with your tree plantings, the need to bush-hog might reduce somewhat as your trees grow. Killing off everything that grows there now and replanting densely with things which do well in your area (thus keeping down weed invasions) and stay low would be another option, but that's also work.

Up here a dense planting of clover works pretty well, though you still want to mow a few times to keep the taller weeds from making it. Controlled burns work well in some areas, but I can't say if they would work for your particular spot - probably not since you are trying to grow trees in it.

[Kay Lancaster]

Check out

-- good stuff on the website, even better stuff in the publications catalog, esp. the landscaping books and videos.

As far as "looking strange", consider a planned landscape with more formal lawn/garden areas near the house, transitioning to informal, (perhaps knee high grassy/wildflower areas with a few shrubs that can be burned or brushhogged once in awhile) transitioning to natural but maintained. A few paths carved into the natural areas help with maintenance and also with the visual transition. And plan in some firebreaks.

Kay Lancaster [e-mail]

[Keith Nuttl]

It depends on how much time you have, or stay with the property.

Several years ago we bought a new how that had most of the lot burned in a woods fire. There were some trees but many were fire damaged and had to be taken down.

The best way to plan your future woods survey the area, determine what has potential and what does not. Further prioritize those items as those that have immediate potential and those that should go immediately.

Each time you walk through the area trim with the priorities in mind encouraging what you want and trimming back what you don't. There will be a time when it looks like and uncared for area but over a few years you will start seeing your plan grow into place

Dukester wrote:

[DejaVU]

Joel Corwith scribed in :

sweat.

ROFL!

swarf, steam and wind

-- David Forsyth -:- the email address is real /"\

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[Offbreed]

Fire, flood, livestock, poison, or mow.

Boils down to those.

[Salty Thumb]

Offbreed wrote in news: [e-mail]:

you could also pave over it with asphalt, mulch or flowers

alternatively you could possibly genetically engineer leaf cutter ants for lawn control purposes

[Fisher Price]

You should only take off 1/3 of the height of the blade of grass.

[Offbreed]

(I can just see some poor sucker laying there, measuring each blade, and calculating 1/3.)

[Gears]

You could turn it into a small offroad track for go karts or atv's.

[Offbreed]

That'll work.

Normal mulch won't bury the trees, though nutrient depletion (nitrogen) might count as "poison".

Mow to establish, anyhow.

Oh, that's "livestock".

Kudzu might work .

[DejaVU]

Offbreed scribed in :

fire will make it grow FASTER when it comes back up

swarf, steam and wind

-- David Forsyth -:- the email address is real /"\

\ / ASCII Ribbon campaign against HTML E-Mail > - - - - - - -> X If you receive email saying "Send this to everyone you know," / \ PLEASE pretend you don't know me.

[Offbreed]

Depends on the plants, the season, and how hot the fire is.

[Joe]

That's pretty much what I do. Lawn by the house, then a section of tall grass meadow, and trees beyond that. I cut paths through the tall grass, and cut the whole area every fall or every other fall, to keep the brambles from moving in. I'm working in some wildflowers into the tall grass area, but that's still in the experimental stage.

There's a series of pictures here, but it doesn't show the paths that well. I really like the look (although some friends strongly disagree!), and I love finding what new wildflowers appear on their own when you just let the lawn go: