On 6/7/2012 8:46 PM, songbird wrote:
Steven Bornfeld wrote:

Just bought a house for the first time (at age 60!), and I have a back
yard I'd like to clear.
Of course, I'd like to clear the lot myself. Lot is about 50'x30.
Ordinarily I'd just take my time, clear a bit at a time. Would rather
not use herbicides (though the soil is hardly pristine--once caught one
of the painters dumping paint out back). I should probably try to rent
some power equipment, but is it feasible to do this with hand tools?
Biggest problem seems to be an overgrowth of wild fennel (which smells
great, but some of the tap roots go 2 feet straight down).
Any hand tools make this doable, or should I break down and get some
power tools I'll probably rarely use?

rent for the day/week or have friends
to beg/bribe/borrow/...

there's nothing wrong with doing it slowly and this
might give you a chance to identify plants you'd like
to keep that are currently overgrown or unknown to you
at present. also, doing it slowly means you don't
have to leave a lot of bare space for new weeds to
take over. mulching, using cover plants/cover crops,
green manures, layer gardening, etc. all very good
to learn and to figure out what your soil likes
best and needs. soil testing for garden spaces or
finicky plants is also a good idea if you plan on
spending a lot of money on new plants or suspect
your soil may be problematic... finding neighbors
who garden is great.

it can be quite an adventure.

here it was abandoned fields that used to be an old
christmas tree farm and before that it was mixed swampy
scrub and huge white pine trees. over the years of
gradually changing things we've found many wild flowers
and various critters. clearing it all and starting
over from scratch would have probably elminated the ones
we like and bringing in fill always has the risk of
bringing in new weed seeds too.

oh and avoid seeds/seed mixes that you don't know what
all is in them and how invasive or pesky they might be.
we have several weeds from such that have been a real
PITA...


songbird

Thanks. My next door neighbor is an avid gardener; recently retired,
has already volunteered to help me. But I know he'd refuse payment and
I feel funny about letting him work on the yard for free--plus he's no
youngster himself and smokes heavily. I'd just as soon get the aches
and pains myself.
Have read about "lasagna" gardening, but I'm going to have a heck of a
time cutting these huge weeds down flat enough to do it.
There are a few plants I'd consider keeping, but not much.

Steve