1 We built a cottage and now there’s an ugly scar around it. What can we do?
A CONSTRUCTION SITE affects the ground around it in two ways, says Kelly Leask, the owner of Prairie Originals, a native-plant nursery in Selkirk, Man. Digging “can rearrange the soil layers,” she explains, and the use of heavy machinery compacts the soil. The subsoil now at the surface doesn’t have a lot of nutrients, and compaction reduces soil capacity for water and air and hinders tiny plant roots.
One short-term solution to bare construction ground is a cover, or nurse, crop: an annual plant (one that lives for a single season) that grows quickly and shades other sprouting seeds you’ve sown. When the cover crop is gone, the desirable plants have a head start over the weeds. Ryegrass and clover are commonly used as cover crops in northern climates. “Bare soil is a wound,” Leask says. A cover crop “is like a Band-Aid.”
In addition, she suggests that you also plant tree saplings within a year or two, since they take time to grow. Tip: instead of buying large, field-grown saplings with root balls wrapped in burlap, you’ll get similar results and save money with. A field-grown tree, Leask says, has had its roots clipped when dug and wrapped; its growth will be slow for several years. A container-grown tree doesn’t suffer the same injury, so it will recover and grow more quickly.
