Bring Me A Shrubbery--Part Deux

Apparently we are not the only household to receive a love-note from the city about cutting back our vegetation.  Several of our neighbors have also received similar letters; some are doing something about it and some seem to be ignoring them.  Some just seem to be dazed and confused.

Our neighbor Meredith came down to borrow some balsamic vinegar last night and said she had been chopping away at the vegetation behind her house all day.  The guidelines on this are so vague we all feel as if we're trapped in a Monty Python sketch.  "Bring me a shrubbery!  No, not that shrubbery, the one a hundred feet from your house!"

Behind the Fence--Before...

Anyway, we've made great progress on it this week.  Greg Eubanks, our landscaper, is also a Master Gardener and has the knowledge and skill to make this a successful project, in spite of the fact that his truck burned up on Monday, incinerating most of his tools along with the truck.

Greg and his helper Brian tore into it all day yesterday, unearthing a rusty roll of chain link fencing, broken concrete, bricks and some ancient cast iron pipe, as well as an enormous pile of plant debris.  The brush was so thick before they started that the telephone pole at the back of the property was hardly visible.

The Same Area--After Clearing

Now the telephone pole and the ground are both visible.  However, now we have the added problem of potential erosion from the area on the left, which is higher and part of the slope down into the canyon of the right.

Part two of the project will be to create some terracing in the area on the left, probably with some railroad ties to create a break in the slope that we hope will slow down the erosion.


And, of course, we still have to get rid of the huge piles of plant material they pulled out of the area.

Part of the Debris