Still too much greenery but it was getting yellow. When we returned it looked like this....
Better, but still too much green to make me happy. So I sprayed it again this morning. We had several hours of bright sunshine, so it should burn the foliage pretty well.
Tomorrow I plan to take the next step -- rototill the surface. The ground has not been derocked, so normal rototillering will be impossible even for a reverse tine tiller. So I will take the little Mantis and scuff the surface. My goal it to cut as many of the grass plants off at the soil surface as I can. Once well scuffed, the next step will be to apply soil amendments. I'll be taking you through the steps.
Ayyyy, I just got a possible idea for busting up the rocky stuff....how about renting an electric jackhammer, with a "spade bit" (or even the spearpoint bit)? I'm assuming the gardenbed-to-be is too far from the house for a 12/3 extension cord, but maybe there's a 12 volt outlet on your tractor, so you could plug in an inverter with enough wattage for the jackhammer. Or someone has one of those ice-chest size gas generators? I know, once you crack the crust, you likely will have to find a use for a whole lot of rocks. Maybe there's a gully that needs to be filled in?
ReplyDeleteIf that grass just laughs at the spray treatment, maybe you could borrow one of those flame-thrower type weed torches, and strap a little tank of propane to your tractor's cart (see how useful that tractor is?) - The flame will destroy the green stuff, and maybe kill any surface weed seeds, too. Just an idea. I'm hoping for a bit of rain to wet down the pasture grass around the brush piles that I need to burn, and yes, I got one of those Harbor Freight weed torches, and I have 250 ft of hose strung out to wet the weed-whacked perimeter of the brush, if it catches fire. Neighbors said "Aw, that's not necessary." Yuh, and Murphy's Law is a myth?
I know there's other ways to bust rock (Dr. Nobel's magic powder under blast mats, if you want to go all out!) but I hope the stuff is easier to break after all.