My winter "fun" has been pulling out Japanese honeysuckle and privet. I still have to use a little Round-Up in the spring, but the winter work really cuts down on the chemicals...and gives me a good physical workout besides!

Winer is a good time to try and get ahead of the invasives like you are doing. The exercise is good. Sometimes I have to take a nap afterwards. Good point on reducing the need for chemicals. The chemicals can be expensive when you are dealing with any real quantity and some are not so enviro-friendly.

Yes, in the winter after a rain - great time to walk around and pull out stuff by hand. I still have plenty of japanese honeysuckle sprouts (got all the stuff off the trees), and in the winter it is one of the few green things so it is easy to spot.

It also helps me get close to the ground and see first year seedlings of chinese privet, nandina, elaeagnus, and bradford pear (in the summer). I have also found a few treasures by being so close to the ground!

I pull a lot of honeysuckle by hand, and find that there is a big difference between Lonicera morrowii and L mackii, the two most common species here in PA. L. morrowii pulls out pretty easily, and with a little digging I can remove even the largest ones. L. mackii is a lot harder to pull. It seems to be due to the very shallow roots of L. morrowii compared to the much deeper roots of L. mackii. With the large L. morrowii, I start by cutting around the base with a shovel. Even shallow cuts easily reveal the shallor roots. I cut through the large ones I can find easily, then begin pushing and pulling on the shrub. This reveals more roots, which I cut, and so on until The shurb comes loose. I think it takes about 10 minutes to remove a large shrub. Smaller ones, up to about 4 or 5 feet tall, can usually be pulled out without any diggin if the ground is moist. With L. mackii, I can't seem to pull shrubs larger than a couple of feet tall - they have deep, strong roots.

Working in the yard, garden, or woods bets a gym membership anyday. Some pump iron, we dig with iron.