When I got home from church today, Mark was taking out a bunch of overgrowth and weeds in the front yard. I was pleased to see it, but I also told him that there are things in the back yard that I’ve wanted to have done for the last year or so. He followed me to the back to see what I was talking about.
Mark dropped what he was doing in the front yard.
We had a bunch of overgrown shrubbery around our back deck that has been bothering both Mark and me. Mark started trying to dig the first bush out, but I suggested he bring the truck around back and try to winch it out.
After successfully winching out several bushes, the board that has held the winch to the far end of the truck bed for many years splintered and broke.Mark found a chain that he attached to the back of the truck and wound around the bushes to pull them out. It wasn’t quite as good as the winch cable, but it worked to some extent. Sometimes, the chain would pull the branches off but leave the root, so he had to dig down and attach the chain to get the root system out.This area was full of overgrown bushes.Here’s the pile Mark and the truck were able to pull out!There was one last bush in front of my clothesline that I was hoping he could pull out. He tried several times, but each time he started to pull on the bush, the chain broke. We had to give up on getting that stubborn bush out for now.I had bought two blueberry plants and a grapevine a year ago and never planted them. Somehow they survived the winter in these pots.One of the blueberry bushes with acidifier sprinkled on the soil.Mark put the grapevine in the newly cleared ground next to our deck.I know this probably isn’t the right time to be transplanting these plants, but if they could survive a Wisconsin winter in a plastic tub, I’m hoping they’re hardy enough to survive being transplanted in August. I’ve tied a couple of strings to the grapevine to help train the branches to go up to the deck rails.I was getting eaten by mosquitos, so I had to go inside. I got this picture from my kitchen window of Mark hauling all the bushes he’d pulled out to the burn pile in the back forty.
If any of you gardeners have advice about these plants, I’d be happy to hear from you!
