This could be the first spring in the eight-year history of this blog
that I do not write a whiny post
about locoweed. All the grass that grew from
all the rain that fell last summer seems to have
choked out the growth of
the evil plant...for now anyway. I scour the pasture each evening
in search of my
nemesis but have yet to find any. I know I shouldn't be saying that out loud.
I am finding many more burrows than usual, which I assume means there are
many more animals out and about. I steer clear of the holy land when I'm walking,
as do the equines, for we know what evil lurks there.
At first glance, I thought I'd come upon another rattlesnake, but it was just coyote poop.
The coyote left a gift for the rabbit living in this hole. How sweet.
I'm finally seeing some positive results from my multi-year battle against the cholla cactus.
There are few new cholla sprouts to pull, so my current campaign is focused on kicking down
the dead stuff. It gives me something to do while I wait for the locoweed to show up.
Having finally seen the cholla in person, it scares me to think of it out there--taking over. Little cholla spines jumping out onto your herd.
ReplyDeleteEW!
The evil weed seeds are still lurking. Part of the evolution /survival of plants is that not all seeds will germinate with the next growing season. Some remain dormant for 1 to 10 years(or longer ??) ... just waiting for the right time to germinate /grow / reproduce and keep the species going.
ReplyDeleteDiligent patrols will keep the population down, but as hard as I have tried on the 1/2 acre house lot, I still have sneaky weeds that will have at least 1 (or a dozen) go to seed on me . At least it isn't the dozens x 12 it used to be.
Now if only I could convice the squirrels to plant all the neighbor's acorns in a different yard! I must pull up close to 200 baby oaks each year and usually find 1 to 10 yearlings hiding in the shrubs. Those can be a real pill to get out! Someone in the neighborhood has a Pecan tree ... and then all the free-flying maples . The birds have been eating some fruiting tree and then planting them under the camellias . They were camoflauged and now I have an interesting challenge ahead!
M in NC
aka - head weeder :)
I hope the rabbit just laughed at the petulant coyote. When we bought acreage in Southern Nevada it was covered in cholla. We hacked the chollas down, and piled up six foot high stacks all over the property and burned the stacks. I don't have hooved animals, but the cholla is H--- on dog's feet.
ReplyDeleteThose nasty coyotes.
ReplyDeleteI always say , "everything in the dessert bites, stings or pricks." . For some reason the grandkids are scared to death of cholla but we can't get them to understand that rattlesnakes can kill them. They're little boys and they think all snakes are cool.
ReplyDeleteHave you got your eye out for tumbleweed and goat heads, too? ;)
ReplyDeleteOh man....I need to take notes. Hope there isn't a test :-(
ReplyDeleteYay for this year's absence of locoweed--all your hard work did pay off! Pretty remarkable, after a year/summer with so much humidity. And the same goes for those cruel cholla. Wish I could help you knock down those dried-up cholla skeletons, though; I think they are very pretty and would love to have a collection of those!
ReplyDeleteSo have you noticed any vegetation differences in the areas where you had the junipers cut and ground up? I have wondered if the increased organic matter there made better grass growing, or less grass, or any difference to the environment at all.
ReplyDeleteThe wood chips and chunks are still decomposing but grass and other vegetation is starting to emerge from the mulch. Also, the junipers in the vicinity of the ones that were ground up seem to be growing faster and getting taller.
DeleteYay for the battle against the cholla! And keeping my fingers crossed for no/little locoweed. =)
ReplyDeleteBad little coyote. I'm sure the rabbit wasn't so appreciative and I do not like snakes. I'm gonna have to google cholla and locoweed to see what y'all are talking about.
ReplyDelete