veldt grass

Pulling veldt grass (Ehrhara erecta) in the oak woodlands. With this weed, it's all about consistency. It's flowering now, some dropping seed. A very prolific seeder, it also reproduces by stolons.

After removing the plant, space is suddenly created for about a trillion seedlings. All of which I try to pull before they set seed the next year. Like I said, persistence and consistency. You can't turn your back on a weed like this. So my problem isn't so much the population in the woodland. It's the population along the roadside.

I've written about this weed and this problem before and I come back to it because it takes up my mental energy. I have to figure out a solution to this problem. Cut and mulch it to death? Shrubby barrier between road and woodland? Spray again?

plants not planted

These flags mark a plot not planted. All the non-natives are pulled and we monitor what comes up. This plot lies within a one acre nasturtium area under coast live oaks. We are in the process of removing the nasturtium and replanting natives. This plot will hopefully tell me how much we need to replant and what might be waiting in the seed bank.

And just a few meters away. . .

is an area that one year ago was covered in english ivy. I trampled all over this place pulling and piling. Now it's nice and fluffy with woodmint, blackberry, and ferns.

It takes time, but we are making progress.

hands on the pulse of the rhythm of the Slough

 

From top to bottom; non-natives bull thistle (Cirsium vulgare), shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris), sow thistle (Sonchus sp.), mustard (Brassica or Hirschfeldia sp.) and the late flowering native mugwort (Artemisia douglasiana).