I began this journey mid January with about three feet of snow on the ground. I started clearing trees and was finally ready to plant Inner Sanctum by mid May. On May 20 th I got the seed down. This area is deep woods and was tough to clear. Still lots of roots and rocks which I will work on over the years to continue clearing. It gets decent sunlight throughout the day and the more shaded areas seems to be doing better. I used pelletized lime but nothing else. I threw my hat down to show how its growing. So far camera shows same doe with what look like two of last years offspring. Also one pic of a turkey and several pics of snowshoe hares.
Good luck to you too.
It looks like our methods are pretty similar. I will be planting Deer Cafeteria in that field. I spoke to John yesterday because I can plant in June or August - September. Considering that I am halfway through June already, John suggested to continue prepping the field to plant late July, depending on weather or early August.
The field is pretty clean now of vegetation but has too many rocks remaining. I guess that I will have time to keep removing more rocks, but then I will have to deal with grass re-emergence. I choose not to spray. Since I am "all in" on building soil health, microbes and structure, we can talk about herbicides in another thread. I will say that John is growing organic is some plots too.
If anyone has any other methods for removing rocks, I would appreciate that info. I have bought a small trailer with a mesh floor. I may try walling off the sides on the trailer, picking up collected dirt and rocks with the bucket and screening the rocks that way.
Good luck with your efforts.
Thanks for the compliment too!
I'm in central NY, southern Adirondack region. Probably similar weather so far. After clearing many smaller trees and brush, my friend helped me with his JD tractor. He was able to smooth out a lot of the ground, as good as a tractor and bucket can do. He also moved many large rocks and york raked for a while clearing leaves and debris. I then picked a ton of smaller rocks by hand and borrowed another friend's ATV chain harrow and kept doing laps trying to smooth things out as best I could. I have a lot of hours so far in labor and probably only cleared maybe 1/4 acre.
Looking good. I am behind in one plot because of weather, cool and early rains. I am in the northern lower peninsula in Michigan. I have been removing most of the bigger rocks now for days. What is your method for removing rocks? I have been alternately raking and dragging a chain harrow to re-smooth and picking rocks by hand. I hope that there is a better method.