The house sits on the edge of a small ridge made flatter and wider during the initial site prep. The ground slopes away in all directions.
It was all forest and I would have been fine with that, doing not much more than making a path through it and tidying up the dead fall. Then the hemlocks died and that changed everything.
I let a neighbor harvest a lot of the dying hemlocks and all of a sudden I had a view. It would be nice to keep it. In order to do that I have to assert my authority.
The idea is still pretty much the same, to tidy up the forest and make a path that will wind around the slope, down to the stream and connect up to the sunny utility meadow on the hill below the roadside vegetable garden. It never hurts to have more room to stroll.
I may plant a few things in time, but mostly I plan to select from what nature has to offer. There are already a good number of rhododendron on this slope. I may add more and some smaller flowering trees lower on the slope that can be looked over from above.
I really don't need a new project that will create more ground that needs a lot of tending. I have enough as it is. I'll just concentrate on eliminating what I don't want and making some paths. Give me a decade. By 2025 my editing will have created a whole new garden. I wonder what I'll get.
It is the initial cleanup that is the daunting project.
It makes other garden projects look easy by comparison.
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6 comments:
I am in a similar situation on my wooded lot infested with rampant wisteria and briar. I find I like to clear it; it looks so good when it's done. Even though I may never be able to plant there due to telephone cables of underground wisteria.
Bev If I had wisteria or kudzu I would do a once or twice major hit with a strong herbicide on the cut ends. I can get good control on the black berry with shovel pruning come spring.
Love your new view. I hope that you can create a path to your liking. I too used to stroll about on our place in N.C. It was nice.
Hi! My husband and I are relocating and would love to know more about your experiences gardening in NC. We are likely going to land in the Brevard area. Being a Master Gardener in Austin, I have so many questions about growing in the mountains. Not only am I not use to rain, but it also gets much colder where you are. I am not having much luck finding information on how roses perform, daylilies, etc. Any insight on gardening woes, things to look out for, things that grow easily, and so on... would be so wonderful!!! Thanks!
Just give me time Lola. I have already started on the easy side without all the thorns.
Hi Teresa. There are very active Master Gardener groups in all three counties surrounding Brevard. Transylvania County probably has a good MG program too. There are two good botanical gardens in Asheville. Biltmore has a famous trial rose garden.
My blog has seven years of gardening adventures and it is easy to wander through the archives. The most general advice to give you is that your future gardens elevation has a big impact on how well you can grow many things.
You are a brave man tackling another slippery slope. I know it will be gorgeous when you are finished.
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