Garden Fence - Removing Rocks

As the garden was used in years past, it seems any rocks encountered were tossed along the edge of the fence.  With the fence now removed, there were piles of rocks all around where it once stood.  Today, I worked on moving these so that I can ultimately flatten out the land.

I gathered two large loads of rocks from around the garden.  I imagine there are more rocks in the piles of dirt which essentially ran along the bottom of the fence.  I assume as they worked the land the rocks were thrown by the fence out of the way and then might have been covered with dirt when the garden was tilled.  I'm not sure but it essentially left an 8" mount of dirt and rocks around the perimeter.  

I'm not exactly sure of what to do with all the rocks.  The property is at the top of a hill and there is no shortage of rocks.  My understanding is that the clearings on the property were made will a bulldozer many years ago.  There are piles of rocks that I believe exist from that process.  I added the rocks to one of the existing piles near the tank.  I'm afraid I'm essentially making a snake den but I guess it was already on the path to being one anyway.  

With the rocks removed, the only task left with the garden is to level the land.  I'll work out use of a machine to help with this as it will be quite a bit of dirt to move.

Front Gate - Fencing Attachment Pole

The picture below is of the attachment point for the field fence once it reaches a gate.  The approach is nice as it keeps you from wrapping the ends of the field fence around the pole where the gate opens and closes.  I plan to mimic this as I expand the original fence to form a fence around the home site area.

  

There are two stand off pieces which are roughly 2" x 2" x 1/4"

The rod is around 52" tall and is 3/4" in diameter.  I'll have to pick these up at a steel supply company.  My planning shows that I will need to add nine of these two the fence when my plan is complete.  I'll need quite a bit of the pipe as well.  

Identifying Weeds

Texas Goatweed / Wooly Croton / Dove Weed
Killed by Grazon Next HL & Chaparral (1.5 - 2 oz per acre)

This grows quite commonly on our property and is known to grow in sandy soil.  They grow 1 to 3 foot tall have have a greyish green color.  The buds are eaten by quail, morning doves,and turkeys.

Western Ragweed

Killed by Grazon Next HL & Chaparral (2-2.5 oz per acre)

These grow one to six foot tall on disturbed sites, dry rangeland, and hillsides.  All three of these describe the area of our property which is almost covered with this weed.  They spread through tillers which branch out from the parent plan.  They serve as decent food for wildlife but not for livestock.

Broomweed
Killed by Grazon Next HL & Chaparral (1-1.5oz per acre)

These grow fairly commonly on the property and have a single stalk with a round top.  It is often covered with little yellow flowers from September to November.  The plan grows 15" to 30" tall.  The plan is poor grazing for livestock or wildlife.  Grows in heavy clay or disturbed areas.

Beggers Lice




GrazonNext HL 

To apply, got with 1.5 to 2 pints per acre for most areas.  You can buy 2 gallons on Amazon for $100 which is 16 pints.  You can then treat roughly 8 acres for $100.

It is recommended you add a high quality non-ionic surfactent (of at least 80% active ingredient) at .25 to .5% volume (1 to 2 quarts per 100 gallons of spray.  

Chaparral 

This stuff is more expensive and cost about $160 for 1.25 lbs (volume isn't listed).  You use 1.5 to 3 ounces per acre which is quite small.  This is suppose to be better than GrazonNext HL as it kills more items.  However, I guess you need to need to kill something that only Chaparral kills in order to make it worth it.  

Garden Fence Clearing - Part 4

While my pictures are not great of the progress today, I removed the remaining sections of fence.  In the picture below, the fence ran just below the tree in the lower left and then to the white shed before turning back to the left.  I removed the two corners and entire side this morning.  

The fence is now entirely removed....

After removing everything, I started the clean up process by rolling or folding up the removed sections of fencing.  

There are some newer fence posts which were on the side by the shed and older cedar posts from the remainder of the fence.  I drove  around loading it all up on the trailer.

I cut up all the cedar posts as they are old and I don't really have use for them.  While they are not great fire wood, I'll likely give them to our old Boy Scout Troop as they can certainly use it for fires in the evening this fall and this stuff is certainly dry.

Our city has a bulk trash and recycling program.  I was going to take the fence to the recycling center myself for the cash but would have only received about $3 and was just too beat.  I left it out and let the city handle the job for me.

The only task left is to remove the larger rocks from where the garden fence once stood.  It is not something I need to do immediately but I expect to handle that task in the coming weeks.