advice on landscaping a seasonal creek

15 years ago

We have a seasonal creek running through our acreage that I would like to begin cleaning up and eventually make a feature out of it. It is too long to tackle all at once- it's about the length of 2 football fields.

Here are the problems:

1. most of it is in full sun and invasive grasses (quack?) grow throughout. Tall weeds grow along the edges.

2. The part with the most potential is in a small woodland area. There are thick brambles and weeds along the edges.

I would to improve the flow of water and suppress the grasses and weeds. How can I get rid of the grasses and weeds and what types of vegetation could I get established in their place? Would this job require a backhoe? Is there a way to tackle it manually? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

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Comments (3)

nandina
15 years ago
Some thoughts from someone with many years of water/drainage experience.

Step 1. Visit your municipality's planning/building department. Ask if this section of your property is a designated wetlands on their maps. If it is then your planning will be controlled by that agency plus possibly your State Environmental Agency. Have a clear understanding of the situation before you do anything that might develop into future, legal problems.
What you intend seems minimal at the moment, but opened up and running could cause erosion problems as it exits your land. Never underestimate the power of moving water!

Step 2. Assuming that you can continue planning on your own, take the time to study where the water goes to when it leaves your property. Ma Nature has developed a retention area and if it is cleared will downstream properties be impacted?

Step 3. Option 1...Hire a landclearing person with a bushwacker to cut all the grasses along the stream during next year's dry period. Just doing this every other year may make the situation more tolerable without disturbing the land.

Step 4. Option 2...Leave all as is and concentrate on the wooded area. Mow a walking path through the weeds into the woods and clear it out. If a bushwacker can gain access to this area then use that method to clear. If not, then the purchase of a Gravely brush cutter is an easy method to keep brush and grasses under control. In the long run it is an investment that makes life much easier in this type of situation. If you are determined to modify this natural ecosystem, brushcutting is the way to go. Forget about planting anything except possibly willows/pussy willows along the stream channel as the thick grass growth will choke out your efforts.
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sodkiller
Original Author
15 years ago
Thank you, nandina. You sound very knowledgeable. The bushwacking idea never occurred to me and I am going to look into it. And I appreciate knowing that willow might be able to hold its own among the invasive grasses.
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sodkiller
Original Author
15 years ago
Nandina, I posted a reply a couple days ago thanking you for your knowledge and advice. I don't see it now and can't figure out why. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to reply.
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