I took last Friday off because I’d finally decided to break down and kill the honeysuckle in the northwest corner. I knew it wasn’t going to be fun…and I was right! I started with basically a solid wall of Asian bush and Japanese honeysuckles.

Just to test my battery chain saw, I’d cut a few little bits earlier in the week. Not that it mattered because I jammed my saw on the first cut I tried to make (dead, dry osage-orange), but I can fix that when I have time. Anyway, I didn’t cut enough to really make a difference anyway.

It was pleasant on Friday morning, so I got started early, but it was hotter than hell by 1330h, so I quit for the day. It’s hard, physical labour, and I’m old and tired. 🙂 I did get a lot done, but there was just sooooo much of it, and it wasn’t clear sailing because the tree guys had dumped branches (and actual logs) down there when they cut back the osage-orange; I told them it was okay because I do want a brush pile for wildlife cover, but it’s all so overgrown with honeysuckle now. Anyway, I chugged along, cutting and poisoning, and made progress.

Pretty big pile of honeysuckle. I separated the Japanese because it roots so easily it needs special attention.

Working on a slope is not fun.

I still didn’t get it all–I’m not sure I even can get it all because there’s one right by the creek that’s the size of a fucking tree–but I made a pretty good dent in it. I think I’m going to have to use Roundup on the Japanese, but I don’t want to, and even if I must, I have to wait for a time when there’s no rain forecast for at least a week because I don’t want Roundup running off the foliage and down into the creek. Anyway, it looks a mess right now, but I don’t think I’ll plant anything; I think I’ll just wait and see what plants itself first.

I found a couple of skinny, leaning walnut trees that the squirrels had planted, and one I think is green ash. I left them all; now that they can get more light, I can probably straighten them, and I don’t care if the walnut is allelopathic because I don’t have anything specific I want to plant there, and I’m sure something that isn’t sensitive to juglone will volunteer.

I tripped over a fucking Japanese honeysuckle vine, fell, and my lopping shears hit perfectly on two sides of the bark of one little walnut, so I had to make it a Band-Aid from Tanglefoot and brown paper towel. I thought of that a couple of years ago when Onje made a BANZAI dive into one of the Grey Sticks, which worked out very well and saved the broken branches. Anyway, the damage wasn’t too bad, and I repaired it quickly, so I think the little tree will be okay.