We ideally want to clean out our wooded area, and plant similar plantings as the last photo.
Is this a big job? How would you recommend we best do it?
Thank you!
by HeezyB
We ideally want to clean out our wooded area, and plant similar plantings as the last photo.
Is this a big job? How would you recommend we best do it?
Thank you!
by HeezyB
5 Comments
It probably is a big job- conditioning the soil, planting, etc. but worth it. Use only natives.
Where are you located? State/region?
Very interesting never seen a request like this. I would skip the grading and mow it low or bush hog if needed. Then just put a metric ton of topsoil and peat moss/mushroom compost. Then drop your seeds before a heavy rain. Also the best time for this would’ve been 2 months ago or 6 months from now
I would ID the plants you already have growing. There may be some plants that you want to keep. You will want to add a lot of compost.
I would do all native shading-loving plants, including some shrubs. If there are some plants that don’t need to cold stratify, you may want to start them in seed tray that are easy to water and plant them out as plugs in September so they can establish roots before winter. The summer is too hot to try to start seedlings. Even if you manage to start a bunch of seedling yourself, it is going to be a lot of labour to plant them and you will either need to time your planting just before it rains or have a plan for watering.
Personally, I would focus on removing invasives right away and then develop a plan to do it in stages myself, including starting as many native plants as I could and then planting them out in stages either starting from your house and working out or making the trail and then expanding out from the trail.
Hell yes it’s a big job. Also in Southwest Michigan, doing something similar on a MUCH SMALLER scale and without all the trees. I want to give up everyday 😂😂😂. I’m going through so much top soil on a weekly basis. My neighbor did a chip drop last week and got and enormous amount of pine mulch. I’ve been using that now in a lot of areas and only using top soil where I am planting or already have plants present.