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Post by growingreat on Jan 6, 2022 8:10:14 GMT -5
Hi all, I'm looking at ways to clear large areas of land in an environmentally friendly way. Specifically, this is for public/visitor gardens which includes areas of steep slopes being replanted as semi-formal gardens. Already the soil quality is not great and at the moment the method being used is to scrape away the top soil with a digger - NOT environmentally friendly! I know that pigs are great for digging up persistent roots and bulbs but I don't know how well they would cope on the steep areas (which are mostly fenced so they wouldn't have the freedom to move onto flatter land). The gardens are temporary and areas are replanted every 5-7 years so not ideal circumstances I know. Does anyone know of any organic and sustainable methods which would be fairly quick to carry out, while hopefully protecting (or even improving) the soil structure and microorganisms? It also needs to be sightly for visitors which is why I liked the idea of pigs - because who doesn't love pigs?! It's a big ask but hoping someone can help
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Post by martywny on Jan 6, 2022 8:15:24 GMT -5
I'm looking at ways to clear large areas of land in an environmentally friendly way. I would look into hiring a forestry mulcher for larger areas, they are skid steer mounted and can turn several acres a day into mulch. Goats are a good way to clear brush but they are browsers and will not eat everything.
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Post by emmsmommy on Jan 6, 2022 9:29:51 GMT -5
I'm not a fan of pigs but that comes from years of working around them and I try not to think about goats. How close is this to a residential area as the smell of pig crap isn't pleasant. I'm a fan of mulch as a heavy enough layer can smother all but the most persistent vegetation and it eventually will decay and improve the soil.
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Post by growingreat on Jan 7, 2022 14:06:13 GMT -5
Thanks for both your replies. So it's a steep area with persistent bulbs and rhizomes as well as gorse, heather and brambles. The downside of a thick mulch is that with the gradient of the slope and the amount of rainfall we get we would lose some, which could end up covering footpaths. Also, the period between clearing and re-planting is a matter of weeks (hence current scrape and removed method). It's a visitor garden so we can't have big empty beds for months at a time, unfortunately.
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Post by warren on Apr 3, 2022 12:32:52 GMT -5
To clear the ground I would follow martywny's suggestion. To control the water down the hill I would build swales, maybe even build it with rocks to reduce erosion & allow the water to seep through the rocks into your plants. To control erosion I would also use a cover crop.
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