Border security is serious business. If you have no control of your border, undesirables come at will, unimpeded and wreak destruction on your land. A fence can be porous. Eyes cannot be on every square inch of land boundaries, making unlawful entry easy. At first incursions are slow, almost unnoticeable, but gradually more border crossings are made, and before you know it, you've lost control of your land. What was once paradise is ruined. Dramatic actions are required to salvage things. You must stop unlawful entries, severely punish those that have come in unlawfully, and then strengthen your borders to prevent this from occurring again. One must be vigilant.
I'm talking about our garden. We have a fence that borders our garden and acts as the boundary between the garden and our pasture. Our pasture is primarily bahia grass and bermuda grass. Grasses great for pasture, but BAD for gardens. They run from rhizomes and quickly spread. A fence does nothing to keep it out. If left unattended, the bermuda, bahia, and nutsedge will quickly overtake the garden. You can see the grass coming through the border in the photo below:
I have found that a mattock is an under-appreciated garden tool. I use this bad boy to dig up the border crossers by the roots. I toss them over the fence - back where they belong.
I clear a two foot "de-militarized zone" to represent land re-patriated and reclaimed.
But I'm not done. I move wood chip mulch and tightly pack in the cleared zone four inches deep, creating a clear border that is easier to patrol.
Over two afternoons, I patrolled the border, stopped illegal border crossings, and fixed things to deter future crossings, for the near future at least.
Here's a look all the way down the border fence once the job was done.
It was good to get the job done. It was homeland security - literally.
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