Looking at our back yard you would never know that it contained a 10 ft deep, 30 foot wide ravine. The honeysuckle bush that grew on the side and bottom was that thick and tall. If you didn't already know, bush honeysuckle is invasive and a real problem here in Ohio and Kentucky for a few reasons:
- they are very tolerant of poor soil conditions and shade can compete well amongst the roots of trees
- they are amongst the first bushes to leaf out in the spring and the last to drop leaves in the fall so they are vigorous growers that easily overpowering smaller native plants and shrubs.
- their canopy can be so think that the ground beneath is completely shaded and barren of other plant life creating stagnant environments where standing water frequently collects making it a perfect mosquito breeding ground.
- they can produce a toxin that caterpillars and other plant-eating insects can’t seem to handle. It also seems to suppress the germination of seeds in competing plants.
- They quickly regrow from roots left in the ground and their sweet berries are favorites of birds that help spread the bush.
Knowing that we wanted to remove this invader I set to work cutting them back so that I could reach their trunks. One can easily pry even the biggest of honeysuckle bush if you can find the three main roots that shoot out in a triangular pattern from the base. The roots are close to the surface so I like to use a pick axe after a day of rain to chop throw soft soil until I feel the satisfying crack of a broken root. After chopping the three roots just grab the trunk and rock it back and forth in a twisting motion. If it doesn't come out easily you can feel which of the three roots wasn't completely broken so you can give it another go with the pick axe blade. More on honeysuckle in future posts.
I focused my efforts on removing honeysuckle on the front side of the ravine so that we could invite trucks to dump dirt into it to fill it up. Extending a level grass plot was the first step in accessing the rest of the backyard. We put ads frequently in Craigslist Free category as a site for free dirt dumping. It took a few weeks but after 10 dump truck loads of all shapes and sizes we were getting close to filling the ravine for free. It was a win - win.
Then it happened. One day, we got a call from a developer that was interested in dumping multiple large truck loads dirt from a construction site and we happily agreed. When I got home from work that day I found that we had our very own 20 ft tall dirt clod mountain. I quickly changed and climbed to the top with a shovel and pick axe to start working on it. After an hour I realized I needed a lot more help.
That's when I learned that one neighbor, Dan ("the man") had experience working a bobcat and would help me level out our back yard if I paid for the rental and gas. God bless him and his kids who took turns driving it as he taught them. They did a great job leveling out the dirt from the drive, grading it down and away from the house and drive. The extra dirt was pushed off the edge to create a steep dirt slope. Concerned that the dirt might eventually give way and spill our yard into our neighbors, we knew we needed to protect the hill. It was out of necessity that we decided to save money and use resources at hand.
We did purchase a few yards of end of season top soil which we had delivered and poured along the top edge and back side of the filled in ravine. Once done I planted all the Fall walnuts I could collect from other trees on our property to start growing a new walnut strand with roots to hold our hill in place. It only took a season for those nuts to create over 50 different foot tall stick trees which over the years grew quickly to hold the hillside in place. Now fifteen years later and some strategic thinning we have 15 strong walnut trees that have successfully held our hillside in place. And we have a real sense of privacy and so much more bird and squirrel activity.
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