Gardening
is a matter of your enthusiasm holding up until your back gets used to
it. ~Author Unknown
I’ve
often contemplated adding a category to my labels list about thinking outside
of the box when it comes to the harder jobs of gardening. I may call it “work
smarter, not harder”.
Common
thought holds that when a small tree or shrub dies you must dig it out. Or if you
want something to be gone you must dig it out in order to plant what you want
there.
I once
thought that way too. It is how I was taught. But I have done away with that absurd
notion and have had 100% success in not digging anything out, whether it be
tree, shrub or plant. Not even grass removal where I want a garden instead. Some things are easy to dig, so go ahead and do so if you really want to.
However, when it comes to a mammoth Rosemary that has outgrown its space or has
become all woody and leggy because it’s once sunny spot is now too shady due to
changing light conditions as surrounding tree canopies extend. Or a lilac you
carefully kept to a graceful one trunk tree rather than letting it go all
multi-stemmed on you, eventually died after 4 or 5 decades, as continual sucker
removal does shorten its life span. What about the rhody the previous home
owner planted too close to the house, fence or walkway that is now way too big
and you have come to hate it for all the maintenance it takes to keep it conformed
in size. Yes indeedy, these are all my real-world experiences that have made it
essential to find another way to modify a garden bed. I don’t want to dig all
that out. That’s a lot of work!
Now if
you’ve been following my blog for any time at all, you know I am an organic
gardener. The definition of organic gardening is use the least harmful method
possible, resorting to chemicals only as a last resort and in a very limited
application. That is what I do, so don’t be shocked when you read on.
In each
case of the aforementioned lilac, rhody, and rosemary, all of which are quite
laborious to dig out by hand and since I don’t have a backhoe at my disposal,
(nor would it fit into my tiny back yard) I cut them off at the lowest point of
the trunk that my chainsaw can go without digging into the dirt, then carefully
apply chemical herbicide to the cut and only the cut.
Oh, did
I lose you at chainsaw? Understand, I am not a muscle-bound hulk by any means
but power saws are pretty easy to use once you learn how. Yes, I’ve used a
regular gas-powered chainsaw when the occasion warrants it (like if the
diameter of the trunk is bigger than my thigh or if electricity is not nearby)
but I’ve also used a small electric chain saw and I really like using a reciprocating
saw (use the shortest blade possible with the largest teeth) to do the job.
I’ve
also used a hand saw made for cutting woody stuff in the garden. This is not the
same as a carpenter’s saw by any means. A garden hand saw has a short, usually
curved, very thick blade with large teeth at opposite angles from each other.
This cuts through live wood quickly and easily. If the trunk is small enough
diameter you can also use loppers as in the case of the rosemary.
Whatever
your method of attack is…once the cut is made and still fresh (like within a minute, so have it ready)
I then use a concentrated brush killer/herbicide (yes, chemical…nasty bad
business) and apply it only on the cut wood. You don’t need to mix it up in a
sprayer and spray…you’ll be spreading more chemicals around than is necessary
and will likely kill neighboring plants you want to keep. Just paint it on,
full concentrated strength. Use a disposable paint brush or something like
that, that you can throw in the trash after.
That
chemical will travel down into the root. It will stay within the root/plant
material. It will not travel from the root into the soil and affect nearby plants. I promise. I’ve been asked that question many times and the answer is
no. My garden proves it. Never has any of my surrounding plants been affected by doing
this, but if you tried to dig out the root of the tree or rhody you would tear
up so many neighboring plants that you would have a mess to contend with and have
to put it all back again and cross your fingers that the uprooted and replanted
neighbors survive. I think it’s best to just kill it in place and save the rest
of the garden.
Once
the tree or shrub is down and the remaining trunk is poisoned you can plant
your preferred plant(s) next to it and around it. Over the next few years the old
root will decompose but the new plant will be fine and grow and spread (providing
you give it proper new plant watering attention). Eventually you will be able to
easily pull the decomposed stump out by hand if you want to but it will take
years for that, depending on the diameter and wood type, and the other plants
will be covering it anyway so you won’t see it. In the case of the rhody stump,
I cut it to within an inch of the soil level and about10 years later, while
I was weeding around the area, I saw chunks of the stump had decomposed fully
and broke off easily. I broke it apart, which was unnecessary as the Pachysandra had covered the
area completely anyway, but it was good to see the progression.
So, seeing
is believing.
Peer
closely. Can you see the now dead stump of the lilac surrounded by spring green
leafy growth coming up all around it? Ignore the long strappy leaves of the
uncontrollable Wood Hyacinth. After cutting down the tree and “painting” poison
on the flat cut, I then planted a one-gallon size of Helianthus “Lemon Queen” in
front of the stump. One-gallon size is about a 4"(10 cm) diameter chunk of
plant. That was 2 years ago. As you can see the plant spreads by underground roots
and has now surrounded the old stump.
In the
next photo you can see a picture of how full the Helianthus plant is in summer.
I took this photo last summer just as it was beginning to bloom. It will be
fully loaded with clear yellow sunflowers by mid-summer that stay well into the fall. No unsightly stump
visible.
So,
there it is friends. This is not lazy gardening. It is
working-smarter-not-harder so there’s more enjoyment in the garden than just
plain hard work. It’s the difference between yard work and gardening.
Cheers!
In Bloom In My Garden Today: Ajuga,
Bergenia, Blueberry, Brunnera macrophylla, Clematis, Dianthus, Dicentra, Geum
phaeum, Hardy Geranium, Heuchera, Hyacinths, Iris, Kenilworth ivy, Lily of the
Valley, Oxalis oregana ‘wintergreen’, Rhododendron, Rosemary, Saxifraga, Solomon’s seal
(Polygonatum), Tellima grandiflora, Viola
Authors photos
