Someone stop me before I do something dangerous.

[linda_joyce]

I don't know if it is the weight loss, the fact that I am now officially unemployed or that I am following a diabetic diet but for the first time in years I have energy.

This afternoon I took my secateurs and tree lopper in hand and went out to try and cut back the Cottoneaster tree( this species doesn't grow any bigger than a bush usually). Mike next door came wandering out to see what I was up to as I haven't done any gardening since he and Rooth(sic) moved in and he stopped to give me a hand.

You remember this?



Well after 3 hours work, Mike cutting and sawing and me pulling and moving, it now looks like this




with the pruning and brambles here



and here



Hobbes, their young ginger tom, doesn't know if he is happy or annoyed. Happy because all the nice bird smells are down at his level now, annoyed because there may be bird smells but there aren't any birds and we have totally ruined his jungle. The rose, the Snowberry and the other one will grow again but I am hoping we have killed the cottoneaster. Now I must go and shower, a word to the wise, do not try moving several tons of bush in a low necked t shit, I've got twigs everywhere.

Comments

[kalinda001.livejournal.com]

Oh my. You're getting as industrious as entropy_house!

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

I was about to say not quite then I remembered I had taken Losyn for his walk this morning, about 2 miles around the Sirhowy.

[san-valentine.livejournal.com]

Congrats on getting the undergrowth hacked down to a more suitable level. That kind of radical 'pruning' can be very theraputic, I find.

And I dread to think where you'll be finding twigs when you get undressed for the shower. I have enough problems with low cut tops and crumbs.

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

I'm still picking them out of hair, those bushes fought back and the brambles fought the hardest. I'm scratched from hand to elbow but I have light in my living room for the first time in years.

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

Aww poor birdies are dispossessed.
That was some serious pruning!
We have a cottoneaster in the back and so far it's more interested in growing horizontally than vertically, much easier to prune.

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

When Beth dug it out of her garden and gave it to my mother, about 15 years ago, it was a supposedly horizontal one. It took a few months to settle in and then started to reach for the sky and hasn't stopped since. I hope that by reducing it to a stump we have killed it because I don't want it back.

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

This is amazing! I agree with Kalinda - what if it is contagious?
About the cottoneaster - leave a piece of a root - and you have it back! *Grins* Will keep you on your toes!

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

A piece of root!! We've left a whole stump in, I must go to the garden cetre tomorrow and get some stump killing stuff. If they don't have any it will be on to the DIY store to see if they still sell copper nails, my father always said hammering copper nails into a stump would kill it.

[inyadreems.livejournal.com]

Goodness, you're making our garden look a mess. Stop right now.

Or if you have an excess of energy, you can pop up here. There's an unruly privet in need of your effort!

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

It's Mike you need not me, All I did was move the bits he cut off out of his way.

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

I bet it's the new diet that's giving you energy! When your body is properly nourished it feels like doing things. I bet you'll start thinking about putting in flowers in all that nice cleared space.

The stumps of the Trash Trees I have keep trying to sprout, but I go out every couple weeks and snap off any bits of life I see and it's discouraging them-- they're beginning to rot from the top. Another tree I cut down and covered the stump with a flowerpot. It tries to sprout, but they die for lack of sunlight.

I googled 'Cotoneaster Stump Removal' (It's only got one 't'.)
TREATMENT OPTIONS

Cut and treat. Cut stumps close to the ground during the fall and winter.Practitioners using herbicides apply a 50 percent concentration of
glyphosate to the stumps. Painting stumps with glyphosate is effective on large shrubs. For smaller plants,it may be preferable to spray the herbicide.

Cut and cover.Remove all branches of mature shrubs with loppers or a pruning saw, then cut the trunk back to about 1 foot in height.If you cut much shorter, the plant may produce a significant number of sprouts from the root
and trunk. Recommendations vary on when to cut,but research suggests cutting just after the shrub has produced fruit (when its energy reserves are at their lowest) but before fruit has dropped, thus minimizing the risk of
mature berries germinating. Cover stump and surrounding ground (1–2 feet all the way around the stump) with landscape fabric for at least a year.

FOLLOW-UP
Return to the site at least once a year to check for resprouts and seedlings. If you use landscape fabric, check periodically that it hasn’t been moved by animals or hikers. You can also remove the fabric twice a year to cut back any growth that has resulted despite the lack of sunlight. Make sure you reposition the fabric securely.

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

It's only got one 't'.
That comes from the way I used to pronounce it when I read it before I heard it, Cotton Easter. I still will spell it that way. Thanks for the information I am going to track down the glyphosate tomorrow , I wish I'd had it before we chopped it down to about 4 inches but that's life. Once every thing has dried a bit I plan to hire a wood shredder and use the pieces as a mulch.

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

I think if you just cover it with something like a heavy black oilcloth that'll kill it, too. But it takes years to be sure with tree stumps, or worse, with roots- if you cut it down to the roots it could sprout anywhere.

[javahound.livejournal.com]

Wow! It's a whole new yard. :D

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

Yep and I didn't need to switch the light on til just before 10:00pm last night. The sunsets to the North West at this time of year so my North facing living room gets some light until the sun is way down behind the mountain. My electricity bill will be smaller from now on

[javahound.livejournal.com]

That's great that you now get some natural light in your living room. I find having a bit of natural light makes all the difference in a room.