permaculture

[Marimike6@cs.com]

Dear Frank of FranksFarm---

Me again. You write that you are uncertain whether to reconfigure your wet, boggy areas into ponds because of the work involved in prepping and reseeding. (Sorry I can't cut & paste your original comment.)  Unless your soil is a lot worse than most, that shouldn't be a problem. I would let nature take its course and then pull up everything you don't want, for the first couple of months. Eventually you'll have just pasture grass for your cows, plus some mulch for the pile. Around my place you just put out a pile of dirt and stand back, it'll colonize itself right away.

I'll have to agree with whoever commented that your goats will eat the trash trees if you get any goats, the cows are only interested in the grass. But if you try "cutting down" your gum trees and sycamore you're just going to get some very dense bonsai for your efforts. Once trash trees are established you need to do some major earth moving to get up all the roots. Live with them, or get the goats.

About the only labor I think you'll need to perform in restructuring your little piece of the planet is to muck out the muddy places and spread the topsoil where your soil may be thin. Leave the clay pan intact as that will be your pond bottom. If you want it to look pretty, get some iris. They love to grow where their feet stay wet, and will easily grow hip high depending on the variety you plant.

Holistic, practical, affordable. You need a shovel and a wheelbarrow.

Mike in Fuquay