Bucking backyard buckthorn

It's a very pleasant surprise to notice how much more attractive understory looks without the clutter of buckthorn. If this Autumn we don't get all the buckthorn pulled from one small patch of woods behind the house, we'll finish next Spring. Over the Winter we'll scatter a couple of bags of Prairie Restoration's "Short/Dry Wildflower Mix" in the areas we have cleared and hope for the best come next year's growing season. Maybe we'll end up with a pollinators' garden if enough sunshine gets through the overstory. If not, we'll try a different mix next year.

backyard buckthorn before pulling

Photo by J. Harrington

The bird bath heater has finally been plugged in for the season (until next April or early May?). This afternoon we were roundly cursed by a blue jay who arrived for a drink and found instead a layer of ice. We'll put out some suet in the next week or so and cross our fingers the local bears have by now fattened up and settled in for their long Winter's nap.

Did you get to see the moon last night or early this morning? Tonight clouds are supposed to return and hang around for several days. Our shoulders and legs will appreciate the excuse to take a break from pulling buckthorn. A couple or three times we've pulled the classic "just one more," but as often happens, we said that two or three or four times each session. We haven't quite yet adjusted to the idea that we'll be pulling buckthorn for the rest of our active life. We still have the mental model that it's a "project" that we'll finish rather than a lifestyle we're adopting. From time to time we check the Minnesota DNR web page to see if anyone has come up with a biological control agent. No luck so far. Since we broke down (again) this year and sprayed some of the poison ivy with glyphosate, we're weakening on the idea of using that on some of the seedlings. We'll see how much exercise we think we need come Spring.

Japanese Knotweed Killers 

By Jan Wrede

We smote and killed.
No broken needle.
Some chemical remains.
Needle too large for small stalks.
Injector refill problematic.

Victim mortally wounded.
Time for mercy
And finishing spray?
When is the coup de gras?
Killers are ready

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