Just wanted to share this small success story… maybe it will encourage anyone else who’s been frustrated with managing wild brambles.
We logged this area ~5 years ago and of course it quickly became overrun by wild blackberries. Three years ago I started a crusade to push them back (via cutting + carefully targeted herbicide use). Year one was ROUGH. Year two was a little better, but still a lot of work. Now it’s year 3, and the native sedge grass has really started to take off and outcompete the brambles 😍
All I’ve had to do so far this year is a quick (~1 hour) sweep to pull or treat a few small suckers that popped up through the grass, and some weed whacking along the back perimeter.
I’m not trying to totally eradicate the blackberries – that seems unrealistic, plus I want them around for wildlife food and habitat (and to eat some myself if I can beat the birds and chipmunks to them). But I am hoping to maintain a small meadow/orchard here. Native wildflowers (wild + planted) are starting to fill in the gaps among the grasses, and I’ve planted hazelnut bushes that will eventually grow into a hedge along the back perimeter. The brambles will be allowed to exist behind that. I know I’ll probably always need to do some brush hogging and monitoring along the edge to maintain it, but that’s a-ok with me.
by runmangoo
6 Comments
Is this penn sedge?
This looks great! Well done.
Nice job! Looks beautiful! 👏
This is my goal for what I want my lawn to look like when I’m done replacing the grass. Clay soil is making it a slow process.
Gorgeous! Did you start these from seed?
Beautiful.