guildfordcycads

Budget is nil, and I am new to gardening. Live in a city so don’t have easy access to quarries or woodland — don’t drive. I live in London, so it’s very wet for most of the year.

Hello All, I’m sure this is covered somewhere but after searching for a while I can’t find exactly what I’m looking for.

I recently bout a house in Western Massachusetts with about 3 acre of meadow. It is currently dominated in large patches by oriental bittersweet, grape, and dewberry. I know there are ecological ethical questions about “invasives” at play and I’m sure they are important, but in this case I would just really like more grasses and wildflowers (goldenrod and black-eyed susan are the dominant ones in my area). Also, the dewberry is a pain to weed out of the vegetable garden which borders the meadow area.

I have thought of a few management ideas and I’m wondering if anyone can chime in on the best way to reduce these invasive vines and allow the grasses and wildflowers to thrive.

1. Mow more. The previous owner did one annual mowing in the fall
2. Sheet mulch and seed
3. Tarp and seed
4. Something else?

This is a large area so with any of these options I would probably try to tackle small areas each year

Thanks for any resources or ideas!

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