I don't remember the cane last year, must have missed that post. I do remember the berry bush because I was going to comment that it looked like a mulberry bush. I say that because I have a mulberry tree in my backyard.
My neighbor in town had a mulberry tree. When it had berries it was loaded, but the tree was too tall to pick them, so I never got to taste them. The thing I remember most is the prolific roots. Digging a ditch in the middle of my yard, ran into these bright orange roots, looked like carrots, from that tree way far away. (stock photo)
Yep, that's it. They are good and sweet especially the black ones. The downside is that they leave stains on your clothes. I have never gotten one out but they disappear on the concrete patio, go figure.
There is a mulberry tree on the back of my MIL's property. It's a messy tree and the berries are always full of tiny little worm things so they are inedible. I hope you have a good berry crop this year, Nancy.
The digging has begun. On a break. It's 88 F degrees, but only feels like 90. First, there are 7 "divots" in the front yard. Big enough to turn your ankle if you step in one the wrong way. I dug up 4 of them and found ground squirrel tunnels leading from 3 of them. The 4th is inconclusive. Got down about a foot into the sinkhole. The thing on the left looks like it could be an old rotted 2x4. The one on the right could be a tree stump. Can't tell if they are connected yet. My guess is old lumber. But when was it put there? In between is another ground squirrel tunnel leading into what looks like a nest with leaves and grass in it. I think this is not good news. It is about 6 feet from the house. My question is: If the ground squirrels are digging out that many tunnels what are they doing with all the dirt? There should be piles in the yard, right?
So far I've just filled up those divots. I don't think there's a thing you can do about ground squirrels. They disappear when someone moves in the neighborhood with an outdoor cat. Maybe I could make them a place in the back yard they'd like better. lol .. If I could catch them all in a live trap I would take them out to the farm and let them annoy the coyotes. First thing, I'm going to dig a ditch from that hole around the side of the house, so if it rains before I cover it up, the water will go around the house and down over the hill. If someone tossed scrap lumber to bury, why would they stand it up on end? Maybe it's an old fence post. I know the first owner did have a cow. There is some evidence that the front yard was much lower at one time and they added the basement later.
If that is a tree stump then placing the pole next to it would make sense to start a fence there. A cow couldn't pass through the space between the two.
Von, the whole thing may always be a mystery. Got down about 18 inches and quit digging. Needed to stop and think before going any deeper. Once during dry weather, I left the hose running up near the street, about 40 feet from the house. After a couple of hours water started coming into the basement. There was a ground squirrel hole near the end of the hose and the water was running right into it. There was once an old stone walkway out to the street. I pressure washed it one day and all the water just disappeared. Pried up a stone and found a big hollow space underneath it. It took several buckets of dirt to fill it in. No idea what caused that. The only reason I care about this is water comes in the basement sometimes after a lot of rain. It's unpredictable. And when it comes, it doesn't just seep in, it pours in faster than you can vacuum it up. I thought about ways to fix this years ago, and am rethinking all the reasons I gave up before. I won't give up this time. More free time now. I don't understand why the soil is so loose in the hole I'm digging. Once you get below the sod, you could dig with a plastic spoon. Clay soil expands when it's wet and shrinks when it's dry. Could that be why? Maybe if you pack it too solid it could expand and put too much pressure on a basement wall. The front wall is only brick, so maybe digging everything up and packing it would be a big mistake. I wish I knew a soil expert.
(hole digging continued...) This may explain sidewalk mystery holes in clay soil. I really don't want to get a professional team to come in and make a huge deal out of this. It could get way out of hand, like the dam spillway. It's just a nuisance 2 or 3 times a year. Besides it would be fun to try and solve this problem. Ruled out a so called French drain system. That would make things even worse. In spite of having 6" gutters, they still overflow in a heavy downpour on either side of the dormer on the roof, because the roof is so steep. So surface water right near the house is a big part of the problem. I'm thinking of a trench/channel drain across the front of the house at the edge of the roof line. They make pre-cast channels for this, but they are unbelievably expensive, only 4" wide, and have to be set in concrete or they pop out of the ground. I can see where the grates would clog up and have to be removed constantly. Leaning toward making a concrete channel, open so you can sweep it out, like a small ditch. You could make it look neat if you did it right. Or you could paint it Bull Dawg Red and Black.
My main problem with lawn mowing is called procrastination. New strategy for mowing in town this summer: Break yard down into 3 parts (approx equal in size) 1. Front lawn 2. Upper half of back lawn 3. Lower half of back lawn The front yard grows much faster than the back. Maybe because it's flat? The upper half of the back lawn grows much faster than the lower half because it gets a lot of rain from the house roof. It's too convenient to convince yourself you shouldn't mow until you can do it all at once, and the grass is tall enough to see where you've been everywhere. One third is a quick job (15 mins), so not as hard to get started. Should get a spreadsheet and keep track of the number of times mowed this summer. I'll bet it would be in the ratio of about 3:2:1 It's working out really well so far. The only down side is a little line in the middle of the back yard at the cut off point. I can live with that.
I wish I could say the same. This past week I was so glad that I could finally cut the yard after the days of rain here. After I finished I saw I had missed a spot. It was glaring at me tough, like na, na, nana, na (smirk). I avoided looking at my yard until I could mow it again. Hmphf.
Von, I know what you mean about missing a spot. I'm worse. Use a riding mower out at the farm. Every so often it misses one tall weed stem sticking up. You can only see them from a distance. I end up zig-zagging all over the yard trying to get all of them.
6/6/2020 Started trimming the clone of my grandmother's sweet shrub by the deck stairs. It gets this big every year. It enjoys the company of morning glories and English ivy. Got to where I usually stop trimming and kept going. I'm tired of dealing with it. It will come back but I'm not going to let it. Will dig up a small piece of the roots and put them as far away from the house as I can, behind that clothesline post where it can make friends with the neighbor's kudzu. Once it shows me it will live there, I'll take Roundup to what's left. It grows so fast it should be gone from the steps by the end of summer. Just noticed the line in the grass between the top and bottom half of the back lawn, mentioned earlier.