Sure you could do that. But if you have creeping Charlie or quack grass I would not use that as mulch, it doesn't die easily. But what are you doing now that this would be easier? :-) We don't mow around most of our fruit trees at all except the ones right by the house. We have swaths of nice prairie going, and lots of black raspberries growing themselves all over. I guess it depends on where you live and how big your lot is and what the neighbors can cope with.

Marcia

Mowing is probably the most labor friendly thing we have going in our yard. If only we didn't have so much to trim around. Plus we have several stumps and little piles of wood here and there. We have rasberrys and honeysuckle and and a little woods area that has gigantic weeds-many feet tall. My plan is to mow back there at least monthly or mulch back there to prevent this giant weed from returning. We have lot's of wild phlox which is better than that big weed. Our neighbors behind us have such a nice yard. I know they appreciate the fact that they have this wild area behind them rather than a house. I am just looking for an easy way to control this wild area.

tootswisc,
Can you get woodchips anywhere? Maybe from a tree trimmer or if your city has some they give away? You could dump a bunch of them there. They would last a lot longer.

Lee

Wouldn't it be great to OWN a chipper...a really good chipper!

I have an electric one I bought from Harbor Freight. It handles fresh yew which is pretty tough. you are limited in the diameter of the wood you can chip though. But anything over an inch I can use to mount my orchids on, so it's all good!

Dave
Milw...er...Franklin

Do you chop up your weeds in it to

tootswisc,
I have a 6hp chipper shredder and I shred weeds, branches, pine cones, etc. in it. Check out my free rabbit manure post. You could put cardboard down and then put a load of rabbit manure on it. Then cover the whole thing with woodchips or whatever you want. The manure is probably available anywhere in Wisconsin.

Lee

Do you know what your evil giant weed is? Our biggest problem is dogwood. Terrible long roots growing sideways in every direction and sending up new bushes. Your yard sounds a bit like ours. We have about 54 'real' fruit trees (not counting the wild plum), many walnut trees, big and little piles of wood, brush piles, etc. and at least as many non-fruit trees. We count the honeysuckle as a weed, too, although haven't hacked many of those down yet. They are kind of pretty and we have SO much to do in our yard that it isn't a high priority. We have more black raspberries than I can pick, and many wild currants and gooseberries as well.

We mostly don't control our wild areas, we just mow paths here and there which gives sort of a parklike/natural areas appearance. I wouldn't quite kill someone for a chipper-shredder, but I sure want one! We have a wood stove now, so the need to chip up brush instead of making more brush piles is going to be an ongoing situation. One only needs so much kindling . . .

Marcia

Its giant rag weed. But I think I can get rid of it this year by not letting one rotten stem grow into flowers and seeds!.

I think a weed wacker that I can start and use would also be on my list of helpful tools to keep my yard in check.

I know what you mean about honeysuckle. It is pretty right now and does provide a vegetative screen. But it can spread. My favorite hedge used to be lilac, honeysuckle and bridal wreath. It seemed so old fashioned and pleasant

I don't usually bother shredding weeds...just throw'em on a compost pile and the sun takes care of them.