Large Scale Central

Weeds (not the TV series)

Gardening
#1

I’ve been ignoring the gardens around the railroad for several weeks. I won’t make excuses, I just haven’t been motivated for almost a month. During that time the weeds have pretty much taken over. It seemed like an overwhelming task when I looked at the entire railroad. If I wasn’t worried about killing the good plants I’d just spray everything with weed killer.

Sunday when running a train I remembered some advice given to me many years ago by a Radio Shack district manager when he moved me into a trashed store to fix it. “Don’t look at the entire store. Look at 4 feet, floor to ceiling. Fix that, then pick another 4 foot section.” Following his advice In no time I had the store in tip-top shape. Today I decided to apply that advice to my weed problem. I chose a 5 x 3 section of garden. Within an hour it was looking great, so I finished another 5x3 section. If I can keep my motivation going through the heat and wet weather of the next few days the railroad will be looking great by the Fourth of July.

My point-and-shoot is in the car and I’m whooped, so pictures will need to wait

#2

That’s exactly the way to do it. Set a reasonable goal for the day, and make your goal. There will be another day, and another goal, tomorrow.

#3

Thats what I do, sometimes. But when I forget to take small bites, the whole mess does seam to overwhelm me.

#4

When you’re finished weeding there, want to come over and dig out my tracks? It’s only 15’ under 3-4", I’m sure if you break it into thirds…

Thanks!(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

John

#5

I feel your pain John. The weather is suppose to hit the 101 to 103 degree mark by this weekend. Today was a cool 79 degree’s so after dinner settled my wife and I went out and weeded several small portions of the railroad. Tomorrow only suppose to reach 81 degree’s so we’ll go out and finish the small area that is left. The rest of the small weeds will get sprayed before this weekend when it gets hot so they’ll die off quickly.

I love the layout but I hate all the weeding on a 40’ x 60’ layout. I think it’s time to copy what Ken is doing. LOL

Chuck

#6

All this rain hasn’t been helping. I do the same. I pick a section and weed that. Then the next day I move to another or when Im running I do weeding as well. One of the advantages to a roundy round layout. Throw a train on while weeding.

#7

If I could only get the family of rabbits that seemed to invade our yard recently to stop eating my plants and eat the weeds I wouldn’t have any problem!

#8

John are your tracks buried from the rodents?

My sweeper car will sweep ballast off the rails…

Greg

#9

Cutest dang critters you ever saw, if the alien eyes don’t bother you… I got rid of my tunnel when I redid the layout, I tried deep cuts instead. While a nice visual block, they seem perfect for burrow tailings.

Not only down on my knees, but a foot lower to boot. HAD been thinking about carving up an old shovel to match the roadbed contour… sanity prevails… it’s time to elevate.

COPD and 105 degrees … I’m afraid I’ll pass out in a cut and the critters will bury me!

I’ve got the lumber… energy seems to be the short item…

John

#10

Vincent D’Agostino said:

If I could only get the family of rabbits that seemed to invade our yard recently to stop eating my plants and eat the weeds I wouldn’t have any problem!

You just need to plant tastier weeds (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)

#11

John - I did the opposite because I got tired of digging out the cut - I created a tunnel with a rock lined cut leading to it. Now I just need to battle the leaves and pine needles that collect there.

Nearly 90 here with high humid. Looking for motivation to get out there again for an hour or so.

#12

Daktah John said:

Vincent D’Agostino said:

If I could only get the family of rabbits that seemed to invade our yard recently to stop eating my plants and eat the weeds I wouldn’t have any problem!

You just need to plant tastier weeds (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)

#13

I knew this thread would go South as soon as I wrote the title (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

#14

I managed to get out there for about an hour despite the heat and humidity. Here is the “after” photo from yesterday. Before I started you couldn’t really see the moss between the Salomon’s Seal and the Dwarf Alberta Spruce. The large mulched are at the back left looked like a lawn of clover.

Here is the “before” shot of today’s task…

And “after” about an hour…

I didn’t do the area behind the trees yet. Not lots of weeds, but last year’s mulch is completely covered in pine needles from the winter. I think I’ll use the leaf blower to get rid of the much/needles here this weekend then put down the rest of the mulch…

I also need to decide where the railroad garden ends and the “lawn” begins. The border above is a good demarcation, but along the cut the moss gradually gives way to lawn. I’m not a fanatic about my lawn - it’s 90% weeds and 10% grass and I don’t mow it; I beat it into submission.

#15

Our Ash tree dumped about a million seeds on the railroad and I think all are germinating! In rocky areas I spray Roundup, but they seem to laugh at it! Just got carried away trimming an elm tree I was trying to keep small, but gave up and cut it down. Then a boxwood tree close to it needed trimming, so I chopped on it. Over behind the car storage building a bush had mostly died, so started on that, accidentaly cut the wire to a light. Decided while I was there to re-stack the green limestone that is a mountain that has been tumbling down for years. Now I am near death! (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-undecided.gif)Done for the day anyway!

#16

Gosh Jerry fer 92 you get a lot done!(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

I’m glad you were able to crawl back inside.

John

#17

Jerry Barnes said:

Our Ash tree dumped about a million seeds on the railroad and I think all are germinating! In rocky areas I spray Roundup, but they seem to laugh at it! Just got carried away trimming an elm tree I was trying to keep small, but gave up and cut it down. Then a boxwood tree close to it needed trimming, so I chopped on it. Over behind the car storage building a bush had mostly died, so started on that, accidentaly cut the wire to a light. Decided while I was there to re-stack the green limestone that is a mountain that has been tumbling down for years. Now I am near death! (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-undecided.gif)Done for the day anyway!

Hey Jerry, all those Ash saplings may have some value since the Emerald Ash Borer has devastated the natural population of these trees across the country. Hey maybe you even have a resistant strain of the tree. Don’t know if you have any local arborists that may be interested. Perhaps your railroad could start a new industry of exporting flats of saplings to eager arborists?

#18

Oh joy, another job! Doesn’t that excite you Jerry?

#19

I too had put off weeding a section of “would-be” railroad earlier this year. It would be a railroad if it were clear of weeds! It’s only about 7 feet deep, but about 30 feet long. I have trouble getting up and down, so just got a bucket and a piece of plastic grass and sat on the sidewalk. It took about four hours to clean out, but it sure looked good.

The drought has kept the weeds down, so the few that have come back are easy to remove. Today it’s supposed to be 105º F here today, with slightly cooler temps over the weekend. TGI shady over there part of the day, so I’ll probably spend a part of Sunday clearing yet more weeds!

#20

My neighbors are convinced I have a screw loose. They are probably right. Yesterday evening was quite pleasant. I spent a few hours working around the RR and have nearly completed all the weeding above Indian Hill which is 75% of the gardens. What caused all the puzzled looks was me flat on my belly pulling individual blades of grass out of the moss bed around Walk Trans-Load. It sure does look good now. I left unfinished about a half square foot of moss that is heavily infested with grass. Too muggy tonight to deal with it.