Edible shrubs

[Bill]

This is a pretty normal looking grown over field.

Probably 7 years ago I sprayed this field with round up and ordered a bunch of shrubs from John. Poked them in the ground and walked away.

The field was swallowed in weeds, then Biden, eventually it turned to weeds, blackberry and shrubs.

I was surprised to run through it today and see that some of my edibles survived all the abuse.

Red Osier I think.

ninebark? Maybe arrowwood.

Gray or silky dogwood by the door.

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[Bill]

Rainy today so I can't do much. Took some pics.

Here's my 4 or 5 year old willow screen. These started life as 24 inch whips John sent me to try.

A field split with poplars. To bad the deer won't leave the bottom leafs alone.

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[Native Hunter]

Those look great. Red Osier is a tough one. I don't see it browsed here, but I wish I had planted more for the cover effect. I'm surprised that the native underbrush didn't take over lots of the stuff you planted. Your spraying must have been very effective.

 

[wiscwhip]

Don't be afraid to cut the crap out of those ROD. Take your own cuttings during the dormant season, put them in cold storage, and then stick them in the ground with some rooting hormone where you want to start more once the soil thaws out. They take to coppicing very well once they have a root system that has been established for a couple years. I'm not sure if I posted this here yet or not, but here are a few photos of what the HP and ROD looks like after coppicing. The city cuts these yearly now and they just keep sending up more and thicker growth each year.

 

[Bill]

Thanks guys. Sunny today so I'm burning while I can.


I here that wisc. I have a couple in the wrong place I mow every year. They have been mowed, hit with Gly and atrazine. Can't kill em.


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[Turkey Creek]

That over grown field looks like a wildlife honey hole. Every farm should have a field that looks like that.

 

[Bill]

That over grown field looks like a wildlife honey hole. Every farm should have a field that looks like that.

I went from 8:00 AM to 9 PM today trying to beat the rain.
I kicked up so many quail that I stopped being surprised to see them. When I bought this place 9 years ago there were none. Now their everywhere, pheasant too.

I figure it's because of my not so "neat" farm :). There is somewhere for a bird to hide all year long around here.

 

[chummer]

Bill your place is looking great. I wish I could do that to our 5 acre field. I think ugly fields are beautiful.

 

[Bill]

Thanks chummer,

I wish I had pics of my farm from before I started making it ugly. All the fields were being cropped or hayed by the neighbor. It looked like a picturesque little farm.

No haying in years and were down from 87 acres of crops to 17.

Today I started converting a bottom that was beans last year into thermal bedding.

4 more trays to go for this year. If it works out I plan to add some each spring.

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[Bowsnbucks]

Nice work Bill !! Love the crappy field - it's a gem. Thermal bedding = deer hang-out.

 

[Bill]

My time at the farm is winding down. Finally got all 500 NS in the ground. I don't know how successful this will be. I tried a few hundred plugs years ago. They say deer don't prefer them but they killed all of them in the past. It was weird they did not eat them, they just tried to taste them and in doing so pulled them out of the ground. I was left with a dried up dead plug laying n close proximity to an empty hole. I think I planted them to early and they were the only green thing around.

This year I waited until after green up and I'm planting them in killed weeds to hide them for a bit.

The yellow strips were sprayed with gly and atrazine. That's where they went in the ground.

Stinkin things took me 2 1/2 days to get in the ground. But I was violently ill for half a day.

Note to self : check the date on any condiments in the fridge at the farm.
Note to others: eating a tuna sandwich with mayo that expired 6 months ago doesn't produce pretty results :D

More pics. This field won't hold deer today but it is a magnet in Nov. switch grass at 2lbs per acre, lots of clover and various weeds. It turns into a bed and breakfast.

The beans should have lots of mulch if the weather turns dry.

It's alive !

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[scott44]

Looking good Bill!

 

[Bill]

Lots of flowers and seeds in this mowed clover.

Look close you can see Bob.

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[Native Hunter]

Bob is dressed in full camo.

 

[Bill]

Forgot to post this one. This is the bottom of what used to be a perfectly good hay field.

It's amazing what just hitting a field with roundup will do. Kill the nasty grass and all kind of things happen.
I like blackberries but I'm not walking in there to pick any.

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[Ben.MN/WI]

Looks great. Your blackberry patch is impressive and the wildlife will like that. I'm surprised at how many great shrubs pop up in the overgrown grassy areas on my property. It was a beef pasture for years, but a few years after the cows left shrubs and seedlings have started moving in. Just need to keep on top of invasive stuff though so the good plants have a chance.