Unseasonable weather

With more than a week of unseasonable weather, the pile of stems and roots keeps growing. The next dump run will require 2 trips. In addition to what’s in the photos, shed #1 and the back seat of the Saab are also storing bagged clippings.

In the south eastern corner where I could not spray without collateral damage to desirable plants, the stems are thick and the long. This are has been mowed annually but the stems close to the ground don’t seem to be disturbed. A good deal of thatch has built up as well. I mostly cut the stems to the ground.

A patch closer to the bee hives has been mowed more than once a year because it is mostly grasses where the bittersweet has not killed them off. Here, with the killing power of the herbicide, I could pull up some root.

In either case, it is satisfying to remove long stems or trailing roots. It is not so satisfying to realize that the ground if full of bittersweet root.

In the mid section of the meadow, to the south of the new septic field, the task of snipping bittersweet was entangled — literally — by dewberry. Dewberry roots along its stems but at a distance that is, distressingly, just longer than my reach. My wrists are dotted with thorn wounds and my back aches from the long reach that each stem requires. The dewberry leaf is colorful this time of year. And each stem is firmly rooted. I think dewberry goes on the herbicide list next year, even if the Indians did raise it for its fruit. I have not noticed that my dewberry fruits, but I’ll pay more attention in the spring.