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Burying maybe half a foot in soil

Xander RanderXander Rander Posts: 70
in Problem solving
Okay so the pictures are probably awful and probably wont show what I mean however here I go.





In one of the pictures you will see an old railway sleeper that is wedged between conifer trees and my garden.

It is actually sitting in probably half a foot drop from grass level. I have no idea why my garden just suddenly drops like that but never mind.

Anyway I need to remove these sleepers because I had wasps nesting in one of them which to some peoples dismay I had to get rid of which I'm glad I did because it was the size of a rugby ball and probably was housing over 100 grubs.

As there is this drop I was thinking about filling it in with soil but I didn't know if submersing the trunks of the conifer bushes (about 8ft high) would kill them or cause them disease?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

Posts

  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    If you bury the trunk of a tree it will die.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • purplerallimpurplerallim Posts: 5,287
    I would imagine the sleepers and conifers are there to stop your garden slipping down the slope.  What is beyond the trees? 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    punkdoc said:
    If you bury the trunk of a tree it will die.
    Agree.   And as wasps will nest in earth banks removing the sleeper won't stop another queen wasp setting up home there.  

    Get yourself a couple of Waspinators for your garden ... as wasps are territorial this will keep them away https://waspinator.co.uk/wasp-deterrent-information/

    I've seen them work in quite large gardens full of fruit trees.  

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Xander RanderXander Rander Posts: 70
    punkdoc said:
    If you bury the trunk of a tree it will die.
    That was my initial thought :(

    purplerallim said:
    I would imagine the sleepers and conifers are there to stop your garden slipping down the slope.  What is beyond the trees? 

    It was actually myself who put the sleepers there because I discovered them buried underneath an old shed I took down. Before I put the sleepers there it was a scaffold board in place to stop it slipping down but that has been well rotted now and is good for nothing really.

    The other side is my neighbors garden which is slightly lower than my garden but levels itself out as it gets closer to the house...it really is weird :/

    Dovefromabove said:
    punkdoc said:
    If you bury the trunk of a tree it will die.
    Agree.   And as wasps will nest in earth banks removing the sleeper won't stop another queen wasp setting up home there.  

    Get yourself a couple of Waspinators for your garden ... as wasps are territorial this will keep them away https://waspinator.co.uk/wasp-deterrent-information/

    I've seen them work in quite large gardens full of fruit trees.  
    Thanks for the link I will check that out for sure.

    But I do think I've rid half the problem at least as I burnt the nest, removed the sleeper from that spot and am in the process of sawing them up to take to the skip.

    I only found the next by chance. I was knocking in a mini wooden fence to section of a little patio area near the sleeper. I then heard a real thunderous drone sound and actually thought it was a remote drone above my head. Glanced into the bushes and saw a tonne of wasps I must have angered with the vibration.

    Grass was not the only thing soiled that day! lol
  • purplerallimpurplerallim Posts: 5,287
    I wonder if it used to be a ditch . If so filling it in may make the garden wetter. Better to use a retaining wall of some sort which would enable you to level out the area in front.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    All the wasps apart from the queen will die off over the winter ... she will find somewhere to hibernate and in the spring she'll choose somewhere to start another nest.

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Wasps are actually the gardener's friend so try not to kill them all off but encourage them to go elswhere if you really don't want them.   Sounds like you now need something else to retain that bank.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    I mowed the grass on our earth & rock dam later in the summer, after it had rained and set it growing again. I ran the mower along the edge of the border and stopped to empty the grassbox, when I was suddenly attacked by several angry wasps. I saw that I had removed the top of their nest, just below the grass. I got a few stings so retrieved the mower later when things had calmed down a bit. I didn't try to finish the mowing but I have walked past since without being molested. I had no bother at all from the two large and beautiful nests in the currently empty chicken house, but there were hardly any greenfly and the caterpillars on the cabbages didn't last long in spite of lots of butterflies :)
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Sounds like we need more wasps.  Cabbage whtes have got to the brassicas despite netting.   Humph!
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
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