Ragwort Diary: 2015 ~ 2016
August 5th, 2020Diary 2015
The triangle field
- 1st July 2 in path on walk to far fields
- 11th July Whilst clearing a path across the bottom of the triangle field I noticed one but didn't pull it.
- 16th July Whilst clearing a path cross the far fields I noticed one but didn't pull it.
- 17th July 4 off the path cross the bottom of the triangle field. Pulled the one I noticed yesterday in the far fields and found 13 more in the north east corner, Some were multi-stem with the major stem being nearly 2cm across. They filled over half a bag.
These large plants are likely due to previous pullings that left viable roots. - 21st July 3 to the south of the path to the far fields in the triangle field.
- 29th July 4 to the south of the path to the far fields in the triangle field and one in The Far Fields
Total for July 22
- 1st August 3 to the south of the path to the far fields in the triangle field.
- 6th August 1 to the west of the triangle field.
- 7th August 6 in the triangle field, 5 to the south and 1 to north. 1 to the north of the path in the small triangle field; this was a large spreading root multi-stem plant. 3 in the far fields, again in the north east corner, two of which were large, one of which was huge.
- 8th August Cleared path with brush cutter up to level ground at top of triangle field; saw 5 plants on route will pull them tomorrow. Also intend to shred my way to the very top.
- 9th August Triangle field: Well there turned out to be 25: must compare to last year etc. Still intend to shred my way to the very top.
- 10th August Shredded my way to the very top of the triangle field and no more except 2 on the way down I'd missed.
- 15th August Triangle field: 9, 7 of which were south of the path to the far fields
- 16th August Triangle field: 3 to the south east, 2 of which were north of the path to the far fields
- 20th August Triangle field: 2 to the east of the path to the top.
- 20th August Triangle field: 5 to the south of the path to the east.
- 24th August Triangle field: 3 to the south of the path to the east, spotted another 4
- 26th August Triangle field: 12 Found 7 to the south of the path to the east and 5 in the higher parts of the field
- 29th August Triangle field: 5 Found 3 to the south of the path to the east and 2 in the higher parts of the field
Total for August 2015 74
- 4th September Triangle field: 7 Found 3 to the south of the path to the east and 4 in the higher parts of the field
- 12th September Triangle field: 10 Found 8 to the south of the path to the east and 2 in the higher parts of the field
- 30th September Triangle field: 8 Found 5 to the south of the path to the east and 3 in the higher parts of the field
Total for September 2015 25
- 12th October Triangle field: 5 Found 2 to the north of the path to the east and 3 in the higher parts of the field
- 20th October Triangle field: 1 Found 1 to the north of the path to the east in the small triangle field
Total for October 2015 6
Diary 2016
The triangle fields and far fields
- 30th September Triangle field. 14 2, south of the track east, 12 in the top of the field.
- 6th September Triangle field. 4 south of the track east
- 1st September Triangle field. 18 9 in north and 9 south of the track east
- 20th August Triangle field. 4 2 in north and 2 south of the track east
- 14th August Triangle field. 4 1 north edge of the track to the far fields, and 3 in the middle of the top far field.
- 13th August Triangle field. 7 all south of the track to the far fields
- 7th August Triangle field. 18 all from a small patch towards the south west corner
- 7th August Triangle field. 16 6 along the track to the far fields and south plus 10 in the top part
- 5th August Triangle field. 3 along the track to the far fields
- 5th August Triangle field. 5 along the track to the far fields
- 4th August Triangle field. 35 14 at bottom, mostly south of track, 21 in top mostly on slope east of path to the top
25th July Triangle field. 17 1 to the west of path to the top, 15 to the east and 2 down by Gavin's old veggie patch.
36 All from south of the track to the far fields- 19th July 17 11 from sides of path to the far fields, 6 to the east of the path across the top far field.
- 18th July 21 from sides of path to the far fields, half a bag
- 15th July Pulled 4 the west of the path to top, one of which was BIG and I got fork to dig the root. And other BIG lower down to the right; so big with root I emptied the bag with only 5 plants.
37 more to the sides of path to the far fields, many big and just about filled a bag. Took the fork with me; probably a good idea to always use it to ensure I get the roots. - 30th June Pulled 1 from the path to Montbretia
- 27th June Pulled 10 from the path to far fields. RE 25th MAY
- 25th May Sliced through a few in clearing path to far fields. Will have proper look asa
Felling Sycamore 1 : 2020
May 24th, 2020May 23rd
Preparing sycamore for felling. Threw thin rope over branch to pull heavy nylon and tied ladder.
May 24th
Ivy and some branches removed. Moved main rope higher and tied up.
May 25th
Just removed one branch overhanging Trekensa Gardens
May 26th
Cleared 10 branches overhanging Trekensa Gardens.
Moved main rope higher again and thinner rope is hanging as a plumbob ~ looks like the tree maybe leaning a little into the land.
May 27th
Raised the purchase end of the main rope and cleared the felling line Felling may not be until the weekend when the wind maybe more favourable.
May 28th
Morning Maraudings: At 7am I finally felled the sycamore which fell within a degree of the design. You can see at the top a slightly highlighted section with a blue horizontal line and a grey vertical. like a cross. The grey is the main rope and the blue is the tensioner.
The remaining branches have been removed,and bottom part of the trunk has been cut to make way for a wheelbarrow. The top of the trunk has been cut to log sizes.
Tree Hanging by a Thread
July 29th, 2020This is a continuation of the work removing trees from adjacent Trekensa Gardens' House.
I had a fairly serious problem. I was trying to cut down the two remaining trees form the top but found it too difficult and decided to fell them. After various scenarios I decided to fell the smaller oner that leant in to the land and leave the other to more thought.
Using the chainsaw I stood in the hedge upon the stumps from other trunks. The tree didn't fall/ I had forgot to remove the nylon rope that I had used to secure the ladder to both the remaining trees. The tree fell sideways the top end falling in an ash whilst the lower hung from the ladder. I was worried about more damage to the ladder but it seemed OK.
Climbing the ladder to secure it was a worry as I had to be under the trunk for quite a while and frequently. Eventually I managed to loop a wire rope around it to stop it falling completely, but could still drop on me some few feet. Then I added another rope, much tighter to take some weight. Then I manoeuvred a piece of wood so that when I could let the trunk down it would slide away from the ladder. I then managed to remove the rope holding the trunk to the ladder.
Next I sawed the thick protruding end off to save some weight but couldn't unhook the truck from wire I had initially added so I decided to cut the truck the other side which mean two bits would fall a bit randomly.
I removed the ladder that was After more roping and using a bow saw the main part of the trunk fell and flipped over, missing me behind the remaining trunk. I then managed to lift the smaller part, unhook it from the wire and lowered it to the ground. Phew!
18th August I wired the top of the tree via a 5x pulley to tension it towards the field as it had a slight lean towards Trekensa Garden. Sadly I was in too much of a hurry to take a picture of the tension cabling.