South Lopez Meadow Restoration Project

CyndiSmith

South Lopez Meadow Restoration Project

I have a ¼ acre area of tall fescue that I am restoring to hopefully become a San Juan Islands meadow. Before launching the whole effort, in April 2020 I started with a test area to see how difficult it would be to eradicate the tall fescue. I covered a 20′×20′ section with 4″ of bark chips and sat back to see what happened… I thought it would be much more difficult, but the fescue was pretty much gone with only a whimper. Since it looked like smothering a ¼ acre of tall fescue was doable, next step was to take on the whole area. Here is the start of the project: Midnight’s Farm delivered multiple loads of chips for the project. I used single grind chips which are less expensive and did a good job at smothering the grass. Now I am weeding out the grass which grows through the chips and looking forward to fall to begin planting. Here are roemer’s fescue plugs just waiting for September. And, of course, I plan to add camas!

Here is the test section which I planted this spring with roemer’s fescue, yarrow, nodding onion, oregon sunshine, fiddleneck, and buttercup.

wildcatkin

That looks fantastic. I am not surprised at all the tall fescue succumbed to easily and really good to show others a good method! I have had the same experience. yay! There is momentum for such things and I only have one nagging thing in my experience with “meadows” and that is that it seems ideal to me to remove the woody debris before planting- at least most of it. I know that we are all taught about mulch as a good thing, about improving soil fertility and organic matter but…. but…. that is becoming more and more exposed as left over thinking from agricultural practice. We are in a post-wild, post-ag world and exciting things are possible once we get over the grief and start to let go of immediate and robust plant growth out of the gate. As the seed load in our pastures and forests edges is high I do get the impulse and sometimes necessity to keep the ground covered to reduce germination.. so it is a dilemma …. that is why I am using mineral mulches instead or after suppression using woody matter. I also am curious about fossil fuel consumption and human labor related to all the various methods of extraction, transportation, grinding and such. It is an important piece I believe… plus longevity, soil health and balance and invertebrate habitat. I am SO excited to have like-minded folk to discuss and play with.

CyndiSmith

wildcatkin Thank you for sharing your experience with meadow restoration. It is great to have other experience to draw from! I am interested in the mineral mulches…. what are they made of and where do you get them from? One idea I have is to try different methods of weed control on section of my plot and monitor the results. Weed and grass intrusion is such a challenge for long term meadow restoration work, it would be great to understand the success of different methods.

wildcatkin

CyndiSmith I have used mineral mulches, principally pea gravel and “buckshot” plus coarse (between 3-7mm) sand , for many years on perennial plantings. It works great and if you leave or make space, makes good home for ground nesting bees and such. That practice, mineral mulch, seems to be having a bloom time all over the place now and that, in my view, is a good thing. Currently I don’t know many in this part of the world who are advocating, apart from rock and crevice gardeners, but Claudia West and Thomas Rainer give some time to it in their book Planting in a Post Wild World but the main proponents are James Hitchmough, Peter Korn, Nigel Dunnett and John Little and others over across the way including Jo McKerr who has an amazing garden and you can find webinars with her. Many great examples of why it works for low fertility meadows. John Little is a particular favorite of mine currently as he is promoting the use of reclaimed mineral components which opens up a whole other part of the conversation: reuse of industrial waste for insect habitat creation. This does have a place in rural spaces, not just post industrial… we are post agricultural and full of waste areas that are gravelly. Yes the “weed and grass intrusion” is a challenge. This is a real part of the low fertility conversation, including parasitic plants (paint brushes, yellow rattle, etc) , and mineral, weed-free mulches.. forage grasses like high fertility. I long for the moment when agencies will include, or at least acknowledge, introduced forage grasses (not just canary grass!) on weed lists: until that day I cannot call introduced nectar producing or (native) caterpillar feeding forbs weeds or look at our pastures, filled with introduced plants feeding introduced ungulates, and call it good. Why are they good and not the little plants feeding the little animals we all love and put on T shirts? hmmmm..

sorry, a soapbox. I suppose one big question is, are we trying to create meadows where meadows might have actually been? Or are those spaces so profoundly changed by being pastures with those introduced forage grasses and ungulates for so long that creating a “native” meadow ecology too difficult? I don’t know and would love to hear other ideas… but taking the first layer of grasses and soil away works pretty well! it is just a question of fuel use vs benefit. I think of this a lot also in terms of what it takes to produce, transport the various materials: cardboard, plastic, road fabric, gravel, etc.. plus the machine time to prepare, remove, and place these things. One thing I think is good about mineral mulches is that they are enduring, add no organic matter or fertility to the soil, are weed free…. so much to learn. would be so cool to get together in a space one day and share together.

samjanemartin

Thanks for sharing this project with us, Cindy. And keep us posted.

Here is a little write-up from Northwest Meadowscapes about a potential approach to small-scale meadow restoration like yours. They recommend tarps or black plastic, but Ive had good luck recently with rolls of painter’s paper and canvass drop cloths.

https://northwestmeadowscapes.com/pages/planting-advice

wildcatkin

samjanemartin thanks for putting this link. it is good overview and info for reference for sure. I use road fabric or nursery (UV treated) woven fabric in much the same way with good results. I was wondering about that painter’s paper and a friend just used a bunch this way as it was left over from some work. All great options.

CyndiSmith

samjanemartin thanks for the suggestion of black plastic or other barriers. They definitely would have been easier to use and I did contemplate these methods when I started the project. The good news and bad news is that this area is a very visible section at the entrance to our neighborhood which has HOA covenants on visible nuisances. I thought the neighborhood may have patience with bark, probably not with a 0.25 acre of black plastic. The good news though is that with the area being very visible, it does get a lot of attention and has the potential to showcase our native plants and the value of pollinators on wildlife. It is adjacent to another three acres of tall fescue so there will be a clear side by side comparison, once the wildflowers are established.