This article is about one of my bigger projects during the summer of 2020. It involved clearing out invasive Buckthorn, grading, replacing chain link fencing and seeding new grass.
Before
When we moved in, one of the problems areas was along the fence on the east side. There were several issues:
The area between the fence and the sidewalk was totally overgrown with Invasive Buckthorn, various weeds and trash. During the summer, the Buckthorn would grow to the east and overhand the sidewalk. The sidewalk leads down to the high school and a city park so it is heavily used.
On the inside of the fence the previous owners had piled dirt, gravel and tree branches along the fence. It was piled so high that the lower three feet of a five foot fence were buried. I had to add an extension on top of the fence to keep from hopping over.
They also piled branches, limbs and leftover sticks in a jumbled mess.
Preparation
Prior to the actual clean up project in 2020 I spent three years cleaning up the mess on the inside of the fence.
I started by hauling the tree branches to the local compost site. I actually hired one of the young men who had previously lived in the house to help with the cleanup. Ironic that he got paid to clean up the mess he helped make.
After the wood was cleaned up then I started removing the gravel. At first I did it with a shovel and lawn cart. Later, I bought my Kubota tractor with loader and backhoe. That made moving the rock much faster. It turns out that under all of the dirt and gravel there was a ton of flag stone. I harvested that flag stone and saved it for other projects around the yard.
By the spring of 2020, everything inside the fence was ready. It was time to tackle outside the fence. The picture above shows the fence and the Buckthorn. While it may not be obvious from the picture, a lot of the Buckthorn was growing through the fence.
Project
I started by cutting the Buckthorn and cleaning up years of dead wood. That required multiple trips to the compost site.
Once everything was cut down then I had to dig out the roots and stumps. The tractor made this possible. Some stumps I was able to pull out with a chain. Others had to be dug out with the backhoe. In the picture you can see several stumps growing through the fence.
The old five foot high fence could not be salvaged. So I removed it, graded the area and the started to install the new six foot tall fencing.
I sleeved 6 foot posts over the existing post, which saved a lot of time. Then I put up the new fabric. After that, I added the top rails and privacy slats.
Once the fence was completed I finished grading the dirt and planted grass seed.
The Results
By late summer, the grass had grown in. People can now walk along the sidewalk without ducking under branches. I can mow the area so that it looks neat and tidy.
